Adventures In Food and Wine

An Explanation

2007-03-19T14:01:00.000-04:00

Things have been trying and difficult in my life right now. It is time that I officially announce that the blog will be on an extended hiatus. If you have me linked on your blogs please remove me.

There are many things that are more important that I need to focus on for the time being.

Patti

A Work In Progress

2007-01-23T17:48:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for the well wishes with the job situation. It will be good (fingers crossed).

This is what we did over the weekend.

Before

After
After

Still a lot to be done. Notice the ugly brick backsplash is now gone. YEAH! But I do so love the new sink and countertop!

This is my last day off before returning to work for the long stretch. I have managed to make a dinner tonight, it is in the oven. Pot Roast, plain and simple. Actually plain and simple is what I have been striving for in my cooking lately. Not too adventurous. I think part of it is because I would rather be doing this.

Yes I have found a new love, knitting. I learned to knit when I was about 10 but I never really got into it. I liked crochet better because it was quicker and easier (so I thought at the time). Now I am ready to move on to the hipper and trendier knitting. Oh why have I forsaken you for so long my knitting side! What a remarkable stress reliever! And so challenging! This lovely work is the first of a pair of socks. Hand knitted socks! My feet cannot wait to be in these warm beauties!

Where is Patti?

2007-01-17T17:45:00.000-05:00

I know that I am not a regular poster to this blog. I also know that I have been very scarce lately.

I have a lot on my mind. The hospital I work for has privatized the dialysis services. As of Jan 31, I will no longer be working for the hospital. The new company has offered to hire all of us, but that still is a big change and can have some major issues as far as benefits and such. Please bear with me for a while. My heart is just not in to cooking and blogging at this time. I hope you understand.

First Baking from New Cookbook!

2007-01-06T10:01:00.000-05:00

As promised, a review of the first recipe I have tried from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.

Whenever we eat out at chain steakhouses, DH loves the dark loaves of bread they bring to the table. I have seen copycat recipes for these before and never tried them. One thing they all seem to have in common is cocoa. The cocoa gives the bread the deep dark color and just a hint of flavor. When I spied this recipe in my new cookbook, I knew I had to try it (because I trust King Arthur Flour recipes). This came together quickly in my KA stand mixer and the loaves baked up beautifully (even though a little misshapen). The addition of honey and a small amount of sugar gives these just a hint of sweetness.

I opted to form the dough into 4 mini loaves. The actual recipe recommends 10 dinner rolls. This could easily take any form that you wish to shape it in. The dough is a little soft, so the smaller rolls would probably hold their shape better. My loaves spread out a bit instead of holding the loaf shape as I would have liked. Maybe it is time to invest in some of those mini loaf pans!

Recipe
Dark, Soft Dinner Loaves

Some Post Christmas Reviews

2006-12-31T18:50:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday! Now it is almost 2007 as I post this and I will be in bed asleep before the New Year arrives since I have to be in to work at 6 AM! I miss being able to stay up on New Year's Eve, but it seems I always have to work New Years Day.

On Christmas Eve I decided to tackle Paula Deen's Foolproof Standing Rib Roast. I have made a rib roast this way in the past and it usually always turns out well. A couple times I have tried different recipes but we seem to like this one best. I think the secret is the leaving it in the oven with the oven off. The roast came out perfectly cooked to rare and was juicy and tasty! This method could not be easier!

We had Christmas Day dinner with my relatives and I was asked to bring a cheesecake. Now in the past, I have made some flavored cheesecakes that were very good indeed, but my family is not as adventurous as me and specifically requested a plain cheesecake. I turned to Ina Garten and modified one of her recipes for a cheesecake topped with fruit and the result was a rich, lemony and creamy cake that everyone loved. I am proud to say it was baked to perfection with NO CRACKS!!! I did use a water bath despite Ina's recommendation that it is not needed.

One of the gifts I received was a Borders gift card. I put that to use and ordered a copy of The King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Cookbook! It arrived yesterday and I have some whole grain bread ready to go in the oven now! I will post on it later this week so stay tuned!

Recipes
New York Cheesecake
Standing Rib Roast

The Christmas Goodies!

2006-12-22T16:52:00.000-05:00

The Christmas goody trays went into work with all of us yesterday and this is how they turned out. I stuck with some old favorites and added a couple new ones this year. My co-workers were happy and devoured most everything by the time I left work. DH said his co-workers were "lusting" over them and were all on sugar highs. What fun!

Keeping this short as "times-a-wastin" and there is still so much to do before the big day. I hope everyone who stops in here to see what we are up to has a safe and joyous holiday!

Recipes
Cashew-Caramel Cookies
Jam Thumbprints
Molasses Spice Cookies
Scotcheroos
Peanut Butter Fudge (easy-peasy)
Coconut Indulgences
Almond Rocca

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2006-12-11T12:09:00.000-05:00

Once again I find that I have been working some extra shifts and have very little time to spend in the kitchen. I am taking a couple vacation days before Christmas, so maybe I can play then. I always have all these big plans for goodies to give and I never seem to find the time to do it all. Ah well, such is life I guess.

I did manage to make a batch of Almond Rocca yesterday. This is a recipe that has been on the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards for years and is the creation of Anna Ginsberg who won the Pillsbury Bake-Off this year. This is a rich and decadent toffee candy. I made it the first time last year and it was requested again for this year. An accurate candy thermometer is a must if you decide to give this a try. You cook the toffee to 240 F, stir in the almonds and continue cooking to 290 F. Add soda and spread in the pan. Top with the broken chocolate pieces and spread to coat the top once it has melted. Top with more almond slices and let cool completely. This time I used a mixture of milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate as the coating and I think I liked that better. I cannot find Cadbury chocolate here so I always use Ghiradelli chocolate bars. You can find a posting about this on Anna's blog (Cookie Madness) here.

Anna's Almond Rocca

I tried a new pork roast recipe from Cooks Illustrated the other day that was exceptionally good. Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast is first brined for an hour to add some moisture to an otherwise lean (and thus somewhat dry) piece of meat. Stuff with an herb/garlic mixture and brown on top of the stove. Transfer to the oven to finish cooking with more herb/garlic mixture and bread crumbs on top. Rest, slice, and serve. The meat was very moist and flavorful and made a beautiful presentation as well.

Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast

Back to work tomorrow so I hope to get some more goodies made today. I bought some cute Christmas jars with lids at the Dollar Tree that I plan to fill with goodies as gifts. On deck to make yet is some Glass Candy, biscotti, and maybe another kind of cookie. Stay tuned.

Recipes
Anna's Almond Rocca
Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast

The Holiday Baking Season is Upon Us!

2006-11-27T23:15:00.000-05:00

I have been very busy with work over the past couple weeks. As a dialysis unit, we are generally closed on Sunday BUT we are open 2 Sundays a year; the one before Thanksgiving and the Sunday before Christmas (unless Christmas is on a Sunday). This is so we can close on the holiday to enable the patients and staff to spend that day with their families. Most dialysis patients need their treatment 3 times a week thus we have to be open 6 days a week. I worked the weekend before Thanksgiving and my only day off was Thanksgiving. I also have picked up some overtime due to staff shortages (Christmas $$$). I have some paid days off coming up mid month and Christmas falls during my long weekend so that will be good. Maybe I can get caught up on all the things I have put on the back burner.

I LOVE to bake! I generally begin baking for the holidays shortly after Thanksgiving so I began today with a new to me cookie recipe I got over at the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards. Every year at this time the cookies threads are abundant and I have gotten many a good recipe from them over the past few years. I really enjoy trying new cookie recipes and I think you can never have too many of them! Recipes that is!

Chocolate Chai Snickerdoodles are spicy and crispy on the outside yet tender in the middle. These have a deep chocolate flavor and like a traditional snickerdoodle, are rolled in a sugar/spice mixture before baking.

I made mine just slightly larger than the recipe states since my "cookie" scoop actually holds about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough. After baking for 17 minutes (my size cookies in my oven) they come out puffed and crispy around the edges.
They passed the "taste test" with the family so I think these will be a keeper and go on the cookie trays this year. They certainly look pretty!
I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe Thanksgiving. Stay tuned to see what else I come up with to make for the Holidays! Until next time...

Recipe
Chocolate Chai Snickerdoodles

2006-11-21T17:36:00.000-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DARLING HUSBAND!

I LOVE YOU!

Spicy!

2006-11-11T12:50:00.000-05:00

I love pasta in just about any form and I love spicy foods. When the two meet, it is heaven in a dish as far as I am concerned. I had my eye on a new Rachael Ray recipe from 2,4,6,8 Great Meals for Couples and Crowds that Rachael calls her Daddy's favorite Birthday Dinner, Jambasta!

I have had a jambalya type pasta dish in a restaurant before and really enjoyed it so I had some high expectations. While not exactly the same as I remember, it is pretty darn close and pretty darn good. I used Barilla Plus Penne, Grandessa Chicken Andouille Sausage, and Muir Glen Diced Fire-Roasted Tomatoes. You have your traditional chopped veggies of garlic, onion, peppers, celery. Add some dried thyme, flour, beer, chicken stock, hot sauce, and your chicken and shrimp. Finish the sauce with a small amount of cream and toss in the pasta. Serve it up in bowls and you have a satisfying meal . By using the Barilla Plus pasta and chicken sausage, I feel less guilty having this dish for the family. One thing I did do differently than the posted recipe was to cook the shrimp separate and use it as a garnish since Chris is allergic to shellfish (poor kid). Let me know if you give this one a try, it will be a repeater here for sure!

Until next time...

Recipes

Jambasta

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2006-11-08T19:07:00.000-05:00

I have a few reviews of some of the products I purchased at Aldi last week.

First up is Grandessa Chicken Sausage, Sweet Apple and Smoked Gouda flavor. These were quite tasty and quick to cook up for a quick meal. I found the quality of these to compare with some of the chicken sausages I have purchased at Trader Joe's.

Next is their Friendly Farms Sharp Cheddar shredded cheese in the 3 cup package. I made some stove top mac and cheese and it melted well and had good flavor. At $1.99 for 3 cups it can hardly be beat.

Frozen Salmon filets were just as good as what I have purchased at Trader Joe's or Costco. This was $3.99 for a package with 4 filets that totaled 1 pound.

Various cold cereals. Their generic version of Honey Bunches of Oats was even better than the original! All were well liked by the boys in the household!

That is it so far. More reviews to come later.

Dinner tonight was a recipe from the Oct/Nov issue of Eating Well Magazine. Every issue there is a feature on re-doing a favorite meal of a select family to make it healthier. In this issue it was Sweet and Sour Chicken. This was quick to fix and well received by all in the family. Randy said while it is not quite like restaurant versions, it had great flavor and was good (Randy was a cook in a Chinese restaurant when he was a teen so he knows Chinese food). I used regular brown rice but you could easily use the instant kind if desired.

Recipes
Sweet and Sour Chicken

A Crisp Fall Day

2006-11-03T19:49:00.000-05:00

I had the day off work today and after paying bills and doing some stuff around the house, I decided to go grocery shopping. After the recent discussion on the Cooking Light Bulletin Board about Aldi Foods, I decided to check them out again. The last time I did any real shopping at Aldi was probably ten years ago.

Aldi is a no-frills market with mostly their own brand of products with a few national brands occasionally up for sale. First, you pay a quarter to "rent" your grocery cart which you then get back when you plug the cart back into the cart stall. There is very little shelving, most items are still in the boxes they were packed in, you bag your own groceries (and pay a nickel for the bags or bring your own), and there is no one to take the groceries to your car. They have the basics plus now carry fresh meat, wine, beer, and some gourmet items.

Aldi is owned by the same parent company that owns Trader Joe's and I will have to say they are starting to look more like them. The store was cleaner than it has been in the past and despite it being Friday and being busy, I was in and out pretty quickly. I got some great bargains (like a pound of frozen salmon fillets for $3.99) and was impressed with my visit today. I will keep you posted on the quality of the food I purchased.

After all the time I spent in and out running errands on a beautiful fall day, I was in the mood for a fall like dessert to serve with dinner tonight. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com for a Pumpkin Bundt Cake and decided to give it a try. I followed the recipe but I think it could be lightened successfully by substituting some applesauce for some of the oil. This baked up beautifully and was very moist. After dusting with some powdered sugar, the family wanted some fresh whipped cream to garnish it with ($1.79 for a pint of heavy whipping cream at Aldi). This will be a repeater for sure. I may have to make one to take into work next week!

Recipes
Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T19:01:00.000-05:00

I received this photo in an e-mail today. People are so creative when they carve their pumpkins! Zac did not want to carve any this year and I have been so busy we skipped it. I miss it too! I love carved pumpkins.

I had to work until 5:30 and Trick-or-Treating began here at 5:00! I rushed home and whipped up a quick dinner while waiting for the kids to come to my door. Alas, there just wasn't very many. It has been that way for the last couple years now. I may not put my light on next year.

Anyway, back to dinner. I whipped up some Devilish Sloppy Chicken that is a Rachael Ray recipe she made this weekend. Instead of beef for these sloppys, you use ground chicken. Spice it up with some garlic (to keep the vampires away tonight), smoked paprika, and grill seasoning. Make a mixture of tomato sauce, hot sauce, Worcestershire, brown sugar, and spicy mustard to mix in. Serve on buns and you have a tasty and quick weeknight meal. We had ours with some (gasp!) frozen tater tots to make it less fussy and quick. These were a bit spicy and just a tad salty. I would advise cutting back on the steak seasoning if you decide to make these.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

Until next time...

Recipe
Devilish Sloppy Chicken

A Foodie Store and A Cornmeal Cake!

2006-10-29T18:19:00.000-05:00

We are back from our weekend away. It was good to get away for a while and enjoy the company of our family. So, Thanks to Roger and Cindy for having us. Let's do it again soon.

On Saturday we had planned a steak dinner and we needed a few things from the market. I wanted to go to this wonderful foodie find that is located in Bloomington know as The Olive Market. Located at Tenth and the Bypass it is close to the Mall and Indiana University. This was Homecoming weekend at IU (they won) and thus the area was pretty congested. I presevered and managed to locate the place on my own even though I had never went there without someone who knew their way around town being with me.

The Olive Market specializes in Middle Eastern and Indian ingredients and has a fresh olive bar that cannot be beat. It is always so hard to decide which ones I want to get when I am there! I decided on jumbo green olives stuffed with cloves of garlic and the best-selling house mix. This is a mix of various kinds of olives is a spiced brine. Very good! They also sell fresh feta cheese, Greek yogurt (which they were out of unfortunately) and freshly baked Pita and Naan breads. If you ever find yourself in Bloomington, Indiana you must go check it out!

The Olive Market

After I returned to Roger and Cindy's we began dinner. Randy cooked up some NY Strip steaks, I made some Twice Baked Potatoes and Cindy steamed some veggies. For dessert we had talked about Pineapple Upside -Down cake and we decided to try a version we had seen Alton Brown make the other day. This version is made with cornmeal in the cake batter. You begin by melting butter on top of the stove in a cast-iron skillet. Add some brown sugar, top with pineapple rings, add cherries to the center of the rings, then add 1/3 cup pecans if desired (I omitted these). Top with the batter and bake in the oven. After removing from the oven it looked like this:
Roger kept thinking we just had cornbread and wanted to cut it with the dinner! After letting the cake rest for a minimum of 30 minutes you carefully turn it out on a plate and you have this:
It was an interesting combination with the dense cornmeal cake and the sweet topping. This was my first attempt at an upside-down cake and I was pleased with the results. We all declared this one to be a winner.

Until next time...

Recipe
Pineapple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake

Road Trip!

2006-10-27T14:13:00.000-04:00

I had planned to do some domestic "stuff" around home this weekend (like cooking!) but it seems Randy has planned a surprise road trip to Bloomington, Indiana to visit his brother. Visiting with them is always a fun time and a chance to get away right now sounds mighty fine.
So I will have to put off the cooking until I return. (BTW, the car in the above photo is just like mine! Pretty cool huh!)

There are a couple of pretty interesting discussions going on at the Cooking Light Bulletin Board site right now. One is on the grocery chain Aldi and one on Trader Joe's. It seems they are owned by the same parent company yet I think they are vastly different. In Muncie we have 2 Aldi's and the nearest TJ's is about 50 miles away in Indianapolis. It has been a while since I have been in Aldi so maybe I better go check it out again. What do you think? Have you been to either one and do you frequently shop there? Discuss please.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZAC!

2006-10-23T18:27:00.000-04:00

Today my youngest turned 14. OMG, 2 more years and he will be driving! Somehow I think ADHD and driving should not go together!

We had the celebratory dinner yesterday since Dad has to work every Monday evening. I made one of Zac's favorite meals, Jambalya (ya gotta love a kid who asks for Jambalya!) For the cake I made one posted last week over at Culinary in the Country (Desert). A Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake. This was very good and Zac was happy with the choice of cake. Chocolate and peanut butter are 2 of his favorite things. The chocolate is rich and dark and the peanut butter filling is superb. I was reminded of the old Reese's commercials, "You got peanut butter in my chocolate..." However, Joe's version of the cake looked much better than mine and you can see his here.

Zac is getting treated tonight to another of his favorite meals, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. He does prefer the homemade marinara for this and since I made some up and froze it, we have it on hand. I just browned up some Hot Italian Sausage for the meat, added the sauce and spaghetti and we called it a meal. He was happy.

Recipe
Peanut Butter Chocolate Bundt Cake

New Blogs to Check Out!

2006-10-20T18:19:00.000-04:00

I have added some new blogs to my favorites list that I want to tell you about.

I was browsing the blogsphere the other day and stumbled upon a great blog Eating Well on Dialysis The blogger is a woman who had a kidney transplant in 1980 and it eventually failed and she is back on hemodialysis again and awaiting another kidney. She takes good recipes from sources such as Cooking Light and The Food Network and revamps them so they are dialysis friendly. Please go check it out!

Also new to the list is Project Foodie This is a fun site that has blogs, forums, articles, and info about winerys, restaurants, Bed and Breakfast, and of course recipes! There is alot to see over there so check it out as well!

Too Little Time

2006-10-18T17:36:00.000-04:00

Lately time has been a precious commodity. It just seems like there is so much to do and too little time to do all the things I want to do. I have been wanting to get a better handle on all my "To Try" recipes and all my "Tried and True" recipes. I use Mastercook, but I don't think I use it to it's full potential.

I have taken a renewed interest in quick to get on the table dishes such as those of Rachael Ray's. Last week I happened to catch her new talk show a couple time and made the dishes she cooked on the show in her "What's For Dinner" segment. The first one was Spicy Thai Chicken. This was quick and done in just under 30 minutes. Very flavorful and well liked by everyone. I usually like to take the leftovers to work, but this time there were no leftovers! This will become a quick go to meal around here.

Second up was Vegetable Ravioli Lasagna. I have made a ravioli lasagna before with ravioli from Trader Joe's that is very good, so I thought I would give this a try. I added mushrooms to the mix and cut back on the cheese topping and only used 1 Family Sized package of ravioli (Rachael called for 2, but that would be WAY too much IMO). Still made a large pan and this time I had plenty to take to work and share the next day. My co-workers all wanted the recipe! The most time consuming part of this dish is the chopping of all the veggies but it is sure worth it in the end!

Veggies for the lasagna

Recently at work we just had our annual sign up for United Way. Ball Hospital gives away prizes as incentives to sign up. I won the weekly prize this week! A $25.00 Visa Gift Card! Now what to spend it on! Any suggestions?

Recipes
Spicy Thai Chicken
Vegetable Ravioli Lasagna

I'm Back! Yeah!

2006-10-17T21:59:00.000-04:00

Woohoo! I fixed the problem and I am now able to access my blog and other blogs once again!

I will be posting updates tomorrow. Until then ...

Where is Patti?

2006-10-14T10:44:00.000-04:00

I know I have not been here lately. It seems that when we recently had to do a system restore on our computer, something changed that no longer lets me into blogger from my home computer. I cannot even leave comments on other blogs!

So until I have some time to access the home computer and figure out the problem...

See ya soon I hope.

Using up the green tomatoes!

2006-10-02T11:46:00.000-04:00

I have been busy since I started my days off with studying (again!) to recertify in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). I am happy to report that I recertified this morning and I don't have to worry about that again for 2 years! Whew! Now to enjoy my time off.

We did manage to close up the garden for this year. The boys got all the plants pulled and I harvested the last of the peppers and many green tomatoes. Now DH and I both like fried green tomatoes, but not all the time. DH told me that one of his co-workers brought in a Green Tomato Cake. He said it was very moist and delicious. So I went on a search for a recipe. I found one that used chocolate which DH nixed ("It did not have any chocolate in it"). I found several that had spices, raisins and nuts which he said were in the one he tasted. I finally settled on a recipe I found at allrecipes.com that sounded easy and received good reviews.

You begin by salting your chopped green tomatoes and letting them set for a few minutes. Cream the butter and sugar, sift the dry ingredients, add the nuts and raisins to the dry then mix together with the wet ingredients. Rinse and drain the tomatoes then add them to the batter. Bake, cool, and serve with a dusting of confectioners sugar. Pretty simple and straightforward. This cake is spicey (cinnamon and nutmeg) and very moist. It does not need any frosting. Frosting would mask the wonderful flavor of the cake. DH stated it was even better than the one he had already tried and was very pleased. Zac liked it as well, however Chris would not try it because he hates tomatoes (OK, more for us!).

I still have a lot of green tomatoes left so I think I will make another one to take into work tomorrow. I have another 3 days off after tomorrow so who knows what I might come up with to use up some more of these tomatoes! Any suggestions?

Recipes
Green Tomato Cake

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!

2006-09-25T05:50:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to my first born son!
I Love You!

ARF Tuesday-Garlic

2006-09-19T15:55:00.000-04:00

While perusing the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards the other day, I came upon two good sounding recipes I wanted to try. Once I copied the recipes into Mastercook, I realized they were both creations of the same person, Jewel. Jewel has been a frequent poster on the BB and often offers her own recipes or tweaks of other recipes. These two were just perfect since I had some beef chuck to use up and some canned pumpkin.

First up is Garlic Harvest Soup. This is packed with fresh veggies and tons of garlic. The garlic is not overpowering and really adds a nice dimension to the finished product. With the addition of barley and wild rice for fiber (my Mastercook gives the nutrition at 45 grams fiber per serving) this is a soup that is good and good for you. A perfect addition to Sweetnicks ARF Tuesday event.

Next up is Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. Pumpkin and cheesecake...what's not to like about this! I wanted to make something to take into work tomorrow and with the fall-like weather we are having now I thought this would be perfect. I have not taken a treat into work for quite some time and my co-workers are continually reminding me of that. A mixture of brown sugar, pecans, butter, spices, and Bisquick forms the crust and topping. The filling is eggs, pumpkin, spices, sugar, and cream cheese. I used the 1/3 less fat cream cheese with no ill effects. This bakes up quickly and looks great also. I will have to let you know what the co-workers think of this. I did get a small taste of the filling before baking and it was very tasty.

So thanks go out to Jewel for these great recipes. Be sure to check out Sweetnicks for the other ARF Tuesday submissions. And check out the Cooking Light Bulletin Board. It is a fun place to hang and all the people are great!

Recipes
Garlic Harvest Soup
Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

What to do with 4 pounds of plums? Plum Tart!

2006-09-18T11:34:00.000-04:00

I went to the Farmer's Market Saturday in search of some seasonal goodies. I found some Candy Onions (If you have never had these, they are great. Sweeter than a Vidalia), some fresh garlic, honey, and Italian Plums. These were grown right here in Delaware County Indiana. I had never seen or tasted an Italian Plum before so the vender let me taste one. WOW. These are awesome! Very juicy and sweet. A carton was $3.00 so I picked one up. When I got them home, I weighed them to discover I had almost 4 pounds of plums. I kept envisioning a plum tart so I went to The Food Network website in search of a recipe. I found one by Ina Garten that sounded relatively easy and did not require a ton of ingredients.

Being an Ina Garten recipe, it is not light with 1 1/2 sticks of butter in the crust/topping. The only sugar in the recipe is in the crust however. The plums themselves are on their own with no additional ingredients needed for the filling. The flavor of the plums shine in this recipe. This is one that will be repeated next time I get my hands on some of those Italian Plums!

My garden is about done for the year. I canned 7 quarts of tomatoes on Friday and had enough left over to make a pot of chili. The weather is taking a cooling turn here in central Indiana which is fine by me. Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the cool crisp days and the turning of the leaves. I will miss summer, but I guess I am ready for the change of seasons.

Recipes

Plum Tart

Pumpkin Butter - makes it taste like Autumn

2006-09-06T14:37:00.000-04:00

I finally got to the canning of the Pumpkin Butter today. This was a very easy project and can be made any time of the year. The base is canned pumpkin along with sugar, spices, and the pectin. The finished product is thick and smooth with a bit of a tang to it from the pectin. I think if I make it again, I may try it with less sugar as the pumpkin flavor was not all that prominent. It is still good and spicey however and a pleasant reminder that fall is just around the corner.

Recipe

Pumpkin Butter

ARF Tuesday, Chocolate in Chili?

2006-09-05T14:19:00.000-04:00

*sniff*

*sniff*

What is that tantalizing aroma?

Oh, it is the marinara I have simmering away in the crock pot.

I decided to push the pumpkin butter back a day and make some marinara. I have not made any for a while and it is so much better than jarred marinara sauce. When I do resort to the jarred stuff, Zac who is a pasta sauce junkie will ask "Mom, what is wrong with this sauce? It doesn't taste as good." I will use some for the lasagna we are having for dinner and freeze the rest.

I know you are asking yourself "What is the recipe for this wonderful marinara?" Well friends you can find it over at The Savory Notebook. Alysha became world famous on the Cooking Light Bulletin Board with her marinara and thus Cooking Light took noticed and published her recipe. I think the secret is the carmelizing of the onions (and the red wine). This sauce is so thick and rich, it reminds me of the sauce that was served in a little Italian joint in the town I grew up in. So good!

And speaking of Alysha. She made a posted about a Cooking Light recipe the other day that caught my eye, Black Bean and Chorizo Chili. (you can read her post here) I recently came across some Spanish Chorizo at the supermarket so I snatched a package up and stowed it in the freezer (usually all I ever see around here is Mexican Chorizo which is a totally different sausage). This chili is loaded with black beans, tomatoes, corn, peppers, a small amount of cinnamon, and just a touch of good for you chocolate (yes I said chocolate). The chocolate really gave it beautiful color and depth with just a hint of sweetness. Cinnamon is traditionally in Cincinnati-style Chili, and since we do not care for that, I was worried that the family would not like this. No worries! The boys loved it and DH wanted to take it in his lunch today. Unfortunately, after a midnite raid by Chris, there was only about 1/2 cup left!
Since beans and chocolate are so good for you, this is perfect for Sweetnicks ARF Tuesday event. Hosted each Tuesday by Sweetnicks, the focus is on foods that are good and good for you. Be sure to check it out, there are some great dishes submitted by some talented and dedicated food lovers out there!

Until next time...

Recipes
Black Bean and Chorizo Chili

Labor Day Weekend

2006-09-03T19:32:00.000-04:00

A potato of love!

Now isn't that something! I love to find unusual shapes in food!

I have been fighting off a summer cold this week. It had me down Wednesday and Thursday, but I took some Echinacea and I began to feel much better Friday. I hate summer colds.

I worked in the garden on Friday and did I harvest a haul! I picked 6 pounds of green beans and 7 pounds of tomatoes. Several peppers, but I did not weigh them. The garden has been very bountiful this year. We have gotten so many peppers this year, I have had to freeze them. If you ever have an over abundance of peppers, just pop them in a bag and freeze them. They work well in a cooked recipe after that. It is nice to just pull one or two out of the freezer in the winter for chili.

Again with the green beans!

How is your Labor Day Weekend going? Since I have to work tomorrow, we decided to grill some burgers and some corn on the cob tonight. Really good and simple stuff. I went to my usual farm stand to pick up some corn and they were closed with a sign stating they were sold out of corn for this year. So I went a little further out in the country and bought some. It was good, but not as good as what I bought earlier in the summer. Sigh, I guess that means that fall is truly upon us when the corn is gone. I never did pick up any extra to freeze for the winter.

Along with the burgers and corn I served a recipe I watched Paula Deen cook while I was vegging out in front of the TV with the cold earlier in the week. Marinated Tomatoes are a good way to use up some of your tomato harvest. Paula claims this recipe will make even store bought winter tomatoes taste like summer. That is a mighty big claim! The recipe makes a lot of marinade, so when the tomatoes are gone, just add more or use it as a salad dressing. The tomatoes were bursting with flavor after a quick soak in the marinade. Add some chopped green onions for additional crunch and color ( I forgot to add these however).

I picked up a book at the library the other day called Blue Ribbon Preserves.
What a great book! I found a recipe for Pumpkin Butter. I haven't had any of that in ages! I have all the ingredients so I plan to make some on Tuesday and can it. Hopefully, I will be successful and I will post the results. Many other recipes caught my eye for some jams and jellies. My only experience with jam is Strawberry Freezer Jam. I think I may try my hand at some cooked and canned jams soon as well!

Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Recipes

Marinated Tomatoes

Using up some garden bounty

2006-08-27T19:48:00.000-04:00

The other day the September issue of Gourmet arrived in the mailbox. Being a 65th Anniversary Issue, it is packed with bits from previous issues and also features reprints of vintage covers. The first feature focused on chiles. In this feature was a recipe for Green-Chile Beef Stew that called for 1 pound of Anaheim chiles. Having an abundance of these from the garden, I decided to give this dish a go.

The first step was to roast the chiles either over the burner of a gas stove or under the broiler. Having an electric stove (not my choice BTW) I roasted these under the broiler. After about 10 minutes I removed them to a bowl and covered the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. After another 10 minutes, they were ready to have the skins slipped off.

Next a chuck roast is cut into 1-inch cubes and then browned off in a large heavy pot. Remove the meat, cook some onions and garlic in the pot and then return the meat to the mix. Add spices, tomatoes, water and the seeded and chopped chiles. Simmer for 3 hours and you have a very tasty and hearty chili stew. I served this with rice and pinto beans as suggested in the recipe.

Zac fell in love with this dish stating "I want to take this for lunch tomorrow at school." Randy ate a second helping stating "I guess I better eat some more of this so you don't feel bad." Actually, I was hoping to take it for my lunch tomorrow, if there is any left!

Recipe

Green-Chile Beef Stew
adapted from Gourmet Magazine, September 2006

Picante/Salsa Success at last!

2006-08-25T20:43:00.000-04:00

When I got home from work today I peeled and chopped the tomatoes I picked yesterday.
I processed 7 pints of my picante/salsa sauce. What do you think?

Now that I have the canning bug for this year, I wonder what I can make next!
Recipe for the salsa is two posts down.

Tomatoes! Yes!

2006-08-24T19:55:00.000-04:00

So do you think I will have enough tomatoes to finally finish the picante sauce?
Stay Tuned...

2 views of my just picked tomato bounty!

The Plan was to Can!

2006-08-22T19:05:00.000-04:00

Freshly picked Pineapple tomatoes

The garden is coming along great, it is like a jungle out there! I have had several picking of green beans and the mysterious peppers turned out to be Anaheim peppers. I planted one heirloom tomato plant and have gotten several of them to enjoy! If you have never tried one of the many different varieties of heirloom tomato, I urge you to get to your Farmer's Market and give them a try! Most have such a fresh and great tomato flavor. They are more for eating out of hand then for cooking. Mine are Pineapple tomatoes and they are as tasty as they are beautiful!

My intention this morning when I got up was to can some picante sauce. I had a bowl full of Roma tomatoes from the garden and some peppers all ready to go. I got this recipe from Beth over at the Cooking Light Bulletin Board and it has been our standard canned sauce for the last 2 years. I have had some bad experience in the past with home canned salsa/picante sauce. The recipes I had tried were too vinegary. I was reluctant to try this one but am I ever glad I did! This recipe is easy (once you get past the peeling of the tomatoes, but I have a handy gadget for that-more about it later) and has a great flavor.

However, canning today was not it the cards I'm afraid. First I chopped and added all the ingredients except the tomatoes and cilantro. I save the tomatoes for last. I peeled and seeded and diced all the tomatoes, to only discover that I had a mere 5 1/2 cups instead of the required 10! Since I already had enough of all the other ingredients for a full batch mixed in, doing a half batch did not seem feasible. I rushed out to the garden in hopes that I had another bowl full of tomatoes that had ripened overnight. No such luck. I will probably have some more in a couple days. So, I put it all in a container and put it in the fridge. I hope all will be well for me to add the rest of the tomatoes in a couple days. I guess I could have went to the farm stand and bought some more, but that seems so crazy when I have a abundance that will be ripe soon.

My canning supplies waiting patiently

So dear readers, I will include the recipe for the picante, as I can assure you it is wonderful. Hopefully I can post about the end result in a couple days. This was to be my ARF Tuesday submission for Sweetnicks. I may submit it anyway as a work in progress! Be sure to check out the other submissions at her site.

Picante in progress!

Now for the gadget. Last year I found a soft fruit/tomato peeler that eliminates the need to blanch and shock the fruit or tomato to remove the skin. It works great! It is made by Zyliss. I love using this instead of messing around with all that water!

That is it for tonight. Be sure to check back in for an update on the canning!

Recipes
Canned Picante Sauce

Chipotle Glazed Chicken, ARF Tuesday

2006-08-08T18:46:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone is now finally getting some relief from the heat. It was a nice 82 here today. What a refreshing change of pace! I was able to go out and do some drastic trimming to some of my herb plants today (I forgot to take before and after photos...I still can't get used to being able to use my digital camera anytime I want and not worry about film). I drastically trimmed some leggy oregano and some mint. I have no worries about either one of them as I have done this before and it just makes them come back more full and beautiful before the fall.

We finally got our first tomatoes from the garden. Just a few Roma tomatoes, the others are still green. Randy planted some banana peppers (1 plant) and it is going nuts! We have gotten so many peppers from it! He also planted what he thought was small cayenne peppers but the start out long and green and the curl up and turn red. I don't know what kind they are.

Dinner tonight was a dish from Rachael Ray that I watched her make the other day. I had all the ingredients except cashews so I just left them out and modified the recipe. This was full of flavor and spice! This was a combination of Asian and Southwestern flavors and they worked well together. Even picky eater Zac declared it a hit! Once I pre-prepped all the ingredients, it was a snap to throw together. I used Uncle Ben's Parboiled Brown Rice (you could always use the regular if desired). I like this because it cooks a bit faster and since it is parboiled, the grains separate nicely. I think I read somewhere that parboiled rice has a lower glycemic index also. This is a dish full of veggies and would be very adaptable to the addition of more or different veggies. I am submitting this for ARF Tuesday over at Sweetnicks. Be sure to check out the other great submissions over there.

Recipes
Chipotle Glazed Chicken

How does your garden grow part 3

2006-07-24T13:55:00.000-04:00

I have harvested the first big bunch of green beans from my garden. These will be dinner tonight cooked with some smoked sausage, potatoes, and onion. I could live off fresh veggies all summer!
I have also harvested some banana peppers and some lettuce (does anyone want some fresh lettuce? I have an overabundance)!

I put some banana pepper to use the other day to make a veggie pasta dish from an older issue of Gourmet magazine. Pasta With White Beans and Golden Onions listed a jalapeno in the ingredients so I subbed one of our banana peppers. This was an easy weeknight meal and was oh so good. I was afraid the onions would overpower, but the combination was just right. I only used one bell pepper instead of the recommended two. If you decide to try this, use two as the dish was a bit short on the peppers. I also subbed Kasseri cheese for the Parm as I had a fresh hunk on hand. This was also good warmed up the next day for leftovers.
The garden is coming along well. Soon we will be feasting on vine-ripe Indiana tomatoes! YUM! Tomatoes in the winter from the supermarket are just not the same. I have tried to explain this to my tomato hating son Chris, but he won't try them. Zac, on the other hand loves tomatoes but dislikes green beans. I did get him to try freshly cooked green beans a couple weeks ago and he liked them. Maybe there is hope for Chris and the tomatoes yet!

Be sure to check out Sweetnicks tomorrow for ARF Tuesday to see all the good for you foods submitted this week. I am submitting this post for the veggie pasta. Meanwhile, take another look at my beautiful green beans! Until next time.

Recipes

Pasta With White Beans and Golden Onions

Playing Catch Up, Again! (also ARF Tuesday submission)

2006-07-17T13:03:00.000-04:00

Well, once again it is time to play catch up! Things seem to get so busy around here in the summer with the gardening and all. Work has slowed down for the time being although my work schedule will be changing after this next week. I will hopefully have more time to get to the many things on my "To Do" list that have been neglected lately.

Saturday I visited our Farmer's Market for the first time this year. Came home with some sweet corn, cukes, zucchini, beets, radishes, peaches, Swiss Chard, candy onions, and garlic. I do so love all the wonderful fresh produce available at the market! One Saturday per month they also have cooking demos done by local students and chefs. Not this last week unfortunately.

Thankfully, I have been spending some more time cooking lately. Puttering in my kitchen is the best therapy I have to relieve the stress of everyday life. Last week I made some Chicken Salad that I adapted from a recipe by my sister Sandra. It was eaten up in no time by Chris and Zac for lunches. The seasoning used is Morton Nature's Seasoning. The salad has a great flavor with this seasoning blend used.
Saturday I decided to try a new recipe I saw in the latest issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. Cheesy Zucchini and Red Onion Flatbread was well received by the meat eaters in the house as well. I thought it was fresh tasting and just right with a salad on a hot summer evening. This has also been tried and reviewed by some of the members of the Cooking Light Bulletin Board with good results. This will be my submission to ARF over at Sweetnick's. Check it out tomorrow evening for more veggie delights!
Sunday was grill out day and I tried a new recipe for Baby Back Ribs that I have had my eye on for quite some time. Fall off the Bone Baby Back Ribs are from Fresh Everyday by Sara Foster. You may remember when I made several dishes from her other cookbook, The Foster's Market Cookbook. These were very good and with the slow roasting in the oven before grilling, they did fall off the bone. I used a bottled barbecue sauce but there is one in the book I may try next time. My DH raved about these and he is a rib aficionado! I served these with grilled corn on the cob, sauteed Swiss Chard, and marinated cucumbers and onions.
I decided to make a dessert and use some of the peaches I bought at the market. Easy Peach Cobbler is a recipe from the August 2004 issue of Gourmet Magazine. The accompanying story is about novelist Dori Sanders and her family farm in South Carolina. If you can find a copy of the issue, the story is a very interesting read. The cobbler recipe lives up to its name "Easy." Simply layer butter, batter, and slightly cooked peaches in a baking dish without stirring and pop it in the oven. It comes out with a nice golden crust. Serve it warm with some vanilla ice cream and it is a real treat in the summer.

Recipes
My Sister's Chicken Salad
Cheesy Zucchini and Red Onion Flatbread
Fall off the Bone Baby Back Ribs
Easy Peach Cobbler

How does your garden grow part 2

2006-07-05T17:38:00.000-04:00

When we came back from vacation the garden had grown so much I was amazed! Unfortunately, the weeds had grown up with it. We have had some fresh lettuce from the garden and the green beans are coming along nicely. I planted a second planting of green beans to keep them coming all summer. I cannot wait for the first juicy garden tomato!

The tomato patch
The peppers and beans

My family had a cookout on the fourth and I decided to take a dish I saw in the July issue of Cooking Light Magazine. Zesty Three Bean and Roasted Corn Salad puts a southwestern spin on the traditional Three Bean Salad. You begin with some fresh corn and green beans which add a satisfying crunch to the salad. Chuck in some onion, bell pepper, black beans and white beans. Toss with a lime vinaigrette and add some chopped tomato and avocado just before serving. I found the salad very tasty. However, my relatives did not wish to be so adventurous once they learned it had avocado in it. Needless to say, I had plenty to bring home for our own enjoyment.

Since I had to work today, I went to bed early last night and did not enjoy any of the local fireworks. From the sound of things, it was like a war zone outside! Chris did take in the local firework display and pronounced them entertaining for this year. This is the first year I have not attended a display somewhere. I cannot believe how much money some people spend on fireworks. One of my co-workers said her brother bought 1 item that cost $65.00 and it lasted about 3 minutes. That is some expensive entertainment!

Check back in next time to see what's cooking.

Recipes

Zesty Three Bean and Roasted Corn Salad

Vacation report and a new recipe

2006-06-23T20:57:00.000-04:00

Well, vacation is over and I am sad to see it end. We had a great time and the weather was good. Not too hot and no rain while we were on the lake. We relaxed and did some fishing and boating on the lake. After the houseboat stay, we did a 3 day promotional tour of southern Indiana. First on the agenda was a musical instrument museum called Dr. Ted's Musical Marvels. It was really a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Then we visited the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial where Abraham Lincoln spent his formative years in Indiana.

We then took in a Drive-In movie (saw the worse movie I have ever seen in my life, Nacho Libre) and stayed the night in an RV at Lake Rudolph in Santa Claus Indiana. The next morning it was off to see the Santa Claus Indiana museum and then to Holiday World, a major theme park with wooden roller coasters and a water park. That day was jam packed and it was HOT.

In the afternoon we left Holiday World and headed to Leavenworth Indiana on the Ohio River. We spent the night at a bed and breakfast called The Leavenworth Inn and that was heavenly. Very homey and relaxing. After breakfast the next morning it was off to Marengo Caves for a tour. Very beautiful and nice and COOL in the caves. Then it was time to head for home. Vacation photos are on flicker if you care to see them, just click on the flicker badge in the sidebar.

Okay, enough about the trip, now on to the food. The Australian food magazine delicious is now being published in the US under the Reader's Digest group. I found the premiere issue while on vacation and picked it up. Tomato and Olive Spaghettini comes from this issue and it is a winner. It was on the table in about 20 minutes and full of flavor with the garlic, tomatoes, olives, and pesto. Serve with a salad and garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and you have simple but tasty Italian meal. This was a hit for all of us, even DH who is not real big on pasta. Let me know how you like it if you try it out.

Until next time.

Recipes
Tomato and Olive Spaghettini

Off for Vacation!!

2006-06-11T10:08:00.000-04:00

We are leaving for vacation this afternoon. Hopefully, this will put me in a better frame of mind since I will be getting away from all the stress (except for the stress of DH and the DS's). Since we will be on a houseboat together, I cannot get away from them (tee-hee)! Just Joking!

I thought I would leave you with a new bread recipe that I tried last week. Chicky Bread comes from a novel. Diane Mott Davidson writes a series of culinary mysteries with the heroine/sleuth being a caterer in Colorado, Goldy Bear. These are fun light reads that are good for some escapism when needed. I have tried some of the recipes and most are really good. This bread recipe as written in the book is for a bread machine but I successfully adapted it to bake in the oven. I found I was out of molasses the day I made this so I substituted dark corn syrup and that worked well. The bread is just slightly sweet and the texture is soft with a fine crumb. All in all it is a good bread to have around. Let me know if you give it a try.

We return home a week from today and I have 3 more days off work to recuperate after this trip. I will post a rundown of the trip and some photos when we return. No internet access on a houseboat unfortunately!

Recipes
Chicky Bread

How does your garden grow?

2006-06-05T20:23:00.000-04:00

Things have been busy around the homestead lately. I finally managed to get the garden planted and here is how it looked last week.

This photo shows the tomato plants.

This photos shows the pepper plants.

I have also planted some lettuce, green beans, and mesculan mix. I also have my small herb garden with parsley, chives, sage, basil, rosemary, spearmint, peppermint, oregano, and thyme. I can't wait for some fresh from the vine tomatoes!

Our oldest son Chris has returned home for the time being. He is working here in town again and has been home a week. He is helping us around the house a lot and will be able to mind the animals next week when we leave for VACATION!!! We will be staying on a houseboat in southern Indiana at Patoka Lake. It will be nice to get away from the phones and enjoy some peaceful time with nature. I won't want to come home!

Dinner tonight we had a favorite grilled salmon from Cooking Light. Maple-Glazed Salmon begins with a spicy rub on the salmon filets that are then grilled to perfection. Just before taking the filets off the grill, you brush them with maple syrup. The combination of the spicy and sweet is just right. I made the rub and seasoned the filets, while Chris grilled them. We also had some grilled corn on the cob and a pasta side from Giada De Laurentiis, Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Red Pepper Flakes. A nice and quick meal to put together and very satisfying on a pleasant summer evening.

Maple-Glazed Salmon
Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Red Pepper Flakes

Muffins!

2006-05-12T18:09:00.000-04:00

There is nothing like a tasty little muffin to cheer up an otherwise gloomy day. Lately I have been having an abundance of gloomy days. I decided to cheer myself up with some muffins. I received the latest Penzey's Spices catalog in the mail the other day and I have had my eye on these cupcakes/muffins since. These are not overly sweet, but they are quite rich with TWO sticks of butter in the batter and another one in the streusel topping! The recipe states it makes 24 muffins, but I only got 18 using standard 12 cup muffin pans. I also had plenty of streusel leftover despite being VERY generous with the topping of each muffin. So there you have it folks. My prescription for the blues. Take one of these ( and believe me, with that much butter, one is all you need) and you will be feeling better soon.

Cinnamon Crumb Cupcake/Muffins

I hope there are a few dedicated and brave souls who are still checking in here from time to time to see if I am still alive and kicking. Well, I am still alive anyhow. There has been some very important distractions that have kept me away from the computer lately (and some distractions that are not so important also). I have been in sort of a blue funk and I have not even had much desire to have any Adventures in Food and Wine either (well, maybe the wine). Do you ever get in a rut like that? I hope it ends soon. The spring like weather is finally here in Indiana so that is a plus. Except today. Cold and rainy.

So anyway, I will try to post here more often if anyone is still interested. Meanwhile, keep reading all the other wonderful blogs I have listed on my sidebar. See ya again soon.

Yes, I am still here!

2006-04-11T20:39:00.000-04:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted here! Sorry about that. Things have just been so crazy busy. It seems like I do not have enough hours in the day to get all the things I want accomplished.

Has anyone been watching The Next Food Network Star on the Food Network? I did not catch this last year so I have been really interested in this show. The competitors all have some redeeming qualities and some have been really annoying as well. There is a marathon on Sunday to get you up to speed if you have missed any and they will be narrowed down to the last 2 competitors this Sunday also. Check it out.

Another food related show I have finally caught is Tony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel. I always enjoyed A Cook's Tour when it was on the Food Network and I think I like this one even better. Tony does not seem so restrained. If you have ever read his book Kitchen Confidential than you know he has had a very colorful past and he is not ashamed to talk about it in No Reservations. It is a fun show to watch and he gets to eat some very exotic dishes.

I fired up the grill again tonight to make a Grilled Stuffed Whole Pork Loin. Pork on the grill...there is nothing better. Pork has to be my favorite grilled meat. I have been saving this whole pork loin to stuff so I picked up our copy of How to Grill by Steve Raichlen to see what he had to say on the subject.

Riachlen stuffs his with olive tampenade. I did not have any on hand nor enough olives to make some. It was either improvise or go to the store. It was my day off and I really did not want to go anywhere so improvise I did. I had a jar of commercial pesto in the fridge that had been neglected so I subbed it for the tampenade. I was concerned that the pesto would overpower the pork. Not so! I found the dish subtle and good to the last bite! I think this may go on the menu for the up coming houseboat trip!

Grilled Stuffed Whole Pork Loin
adapted from How to Grill by Steve Raichlen

Grillin'

2006-03-31T12:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in central Indiana so we decided it was time to break in the grill for this season. I really enjoy cooking on the grill for many different reasons. First of all, it tastes good! I enjoy sitting outside minding the grill and listening to the sounds of warm weather. Last evening I enjoyed the sounds of motorcycles, kids playing, birds singing, and even the sound of the Ice Cream Truck!

Now on to the food. We had a pork tenderloin recipe that is a favorite of ours. Island Pork Tenderloin is from an issue of Cuisine at Home Magazine. The original recipe is for broiling the pork and has a grill option. I have never broiled this since we love the grilled version so much. You make a spicy dry rub for the tenderloins and a Mojo basting sauce. Place the tenderloins on the hot grill and baste as they cook. Pork tenderloin grills up quick and flavorful.
On the side we had a dish that I adapted from the International Cooking show I went to last week. Caribbean Peas 'N Rice is simple to prepare and the flavors complimented the pork tenderloin deliciously. I used brown basmatti rice and canned pigeon peas. You begin by cooking a small amount of diced bacon, add some onion, garlic, and red bell pepper and saute until softened. Add the water, seaonings, peas, tomato paste, and rice and cook until the liquid is absorbed. I used Hungarian Hot Paprika to give it an extra kick.
I served these up with a tossed salad with a Sweet Dijon Vinaigrette and we called it a meal. This meal was well received by all! Oh, and for dessert, I did my best Sandra Lee imitation and mixed a box of Angel Food Cake mix with a can of crushed pineapple and baked it! Quick and simple anyway! So take that SL, I can do Semi Homemade also! Check out Sweetnicks today for a Sandra Lee send up!

That is all for today folks. Check back in soon to see what's cookin'.

Recipes
Island Pork Tenderloin
Caribbean Peas 'N Rice
Sweet Dijon Vinaigrette

Playing catch up

2006-03-29T09:27:00.000-05:00

I have been very busy lately with other obligations and have been neglecting the blog. Spring cleaning and trying to eliminate some junk at home this week since I am on vacation until Saturday. One of my goals is to weed through the many cooking magazines I have stockpiled and take them in to the breakroom at work.

I also have been having a problem being dizzy and lightheaded. I asked the doctor and she did a manipulation to my head and decided that I have Benign Paroxsymal Positional Vertigo. There are calcium crystals deep in the inner ear that are floating around in an area they are not supposed to be in and when they hit the walls of the inner ear canals, they make you dizzy. Some days are worse than others and can make me feel very nauseous also. It should clear up on its own. If I am not better soon, I guess I will have to go back to the doctor for further testing.

Last week my friend Michele and I attended an International Cooking Show that was held by the Madison County Homemakers Extension. It was a fun afternoon with many booths representing different countries and cultures. You received a small sample of the foods prepared and a booklet with all the recipes. There were so many to sample that we filled our trays twice in order to try everything! We only had a couple that we both agreed were not very tasty and we experienced some foods we had never tried before. One dish from The Bahamas that was a simple Peas and Rice contained Pigeon Peas which we had never tasted. It was very good and will be on the menu here soon. Oatmeal Cakes from Scotland were a bit dry and bland, however they are really to be served with hot tea or coffee for dunking. Here is a shot of one of my trays.

I have been challenging myself to use some of the food in my freezer and my pantry and not rush out and buy new ingredients. I had some dried beans to use and I came up with a recipe for White Beans and Greens. This is an easy dish and can be modified to your own tastes. Any type of white bean could be used and any type of green. I used navy beans and spinach since this is what I had on hand. I found it very tasty. DH and Zac would have liked it better without the spinach however.

Update on Angus the cat. His stitches were removed yesterday and he is looking and feeling much better. He still has a bandage since the doctor wants to protect the suture line for a few more days. He is anxious to return to the outside world and explore once again! I find him staring out the windows quite frequently.

I want to officially issue a big congratulations to Anna of Cookie Madness for winning the Pillsbury Bake Off! Anyone who can create a savory dish out of Dunkables deserves to win! You can find her recipe and the other winning dishes here.

That is it for now. I have added a link for people to subscribe to my blog since I have cut back on the blogging. If you choose to subscribe, you will receive an e-mail notification when the blog is updated. Check back in to see what's cookin.

Recipes
White Beans and Greens

Angus update and my birthday dinner

2006-03-20T20:38:00.000-05:00

First off, Angus went back to the vet today. He has healed well and there is no further tissue damage. He is staying the night tonight and his wound is being sutured close. This is great news! The vet was afraid he would require skin grafts to close the wound but since he has healed so well it will not be needed.

Yesterday was my birthday and I generally enjoy preparing my own dinner. I have never made coconut shrimp so that was what I decided to tackle. Using a Paula Deen recipe I found it to be a little time consuming but worth it in the end. You dip the peeled and deveined shrimp in some flour, then beaten egg, then a combination of coconut and bread crumbs (I used Panko). Fry them up and serve with an orange marmalade dipping sauce. I wanted a little heat so I mixed some horseraddish in with the orange marmalade which made a very tasty sauce indeed!
We had this with a simple tossed salad.

For dessert I decided against a cake and went with another recipe of Paula's, Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding is so decadent and good! You use Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies instead of Vanilla Wafers and the pudding has cream cheese in it. By far the tastiest banana pudding I have ever had.

Recipes
Coconut Shrimp
Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

One last thing. I saw this site on the way home today on a sign at a drugstore, so I had to take a photo.
What the heck? Am I missing something here? I wouldn't think this would be a big seller at a drugstore? Do you think I should submit this to Jay Leno?

WCB

2006-03-17T16:01:00.000-05:00

Cooking post to follow.

I got up yesterday morning and my cat Angus was bleeding. He had a wound on his neck and on his left leg. I thought he had been hit by a car. DH and I took him to the vet and it turns out he had an extensive infection under the skin that had begun to drain. About a month ago I pulled a thorn from his neck and it only bled a little at the time and he seemed fine. It is possible that this is where this came from. He has an open wound that is packed and is on some powerful antibiotics. He may require another surgery to close the wound if any more tissue dies.

Here he is with his new neck gear.

Check out all the other cute and hopefully healthy kitties this weekend at Eat Stuff.

Busy Week

2006-03-17T15:06:00.001-05:00

We had a busy week this week and I unfortunately did not try many new recipes. Many tried and trues this week, although I did manage a couple new dishes.

First up we had Peppercorn-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Soy-Caramel Sauce.This comes from the December 2005 issue of Cooking Light. I really enjoy Pork Tenderloin because it is quick to fix and seems to accept many different flavors. This dish comes together quickly and has a good subtle flavor. I was really surprised that the pepper was not more pronounced. The sauce was just slightly sweet and not overpowering. Click on the recipe title under the photos for the recipes.

Peppercorn-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Soy-Caramel Sauce
from Cooking Light Magazine, December 2005

To accompany this we had a new side dish recipe from a sample issue of Cook's Country that I received in the mail. Broccoli with Lemon and Pecans.
This was a very easy dish and very tasty. The original recipe used walnuts instead of pecans, but since pecans were what I had available, I used them.

Broccoli with Lemon and Pecans
adapted from Cook's Country, sample issue

Another new recipe tried came from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Dinners (sorry, no picture this time). Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary Roast Potatoes is a bit time consuming, but I thought it was worth it. You season a nice chicken with salt and pepper in the morning and refrigerate it until ready to roast. Meanwhile, parboil some potatoes with garlic and a whole lemon. You then prick the lemon and stuff it and the garlic inside the chicken along with some fresh thyme. Rub the chicken down with some olive oil and roast. At the half-way point, add the potatoes to the pan along with some bacon on top of the breast meat if desired. Finish roasting and serve with the bacon crumbled on top of the potatoes and the garlic smashed and rubbed on the chicken.

I was planning a traditional St. Patrick's day dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage with Brown Butter Soda Bread (both have been posted before) and I have even prepared this for dinner. However, Zac has a band competition that he failed to tell us about until the last minute so the dinner will go on hold until tomorrow.

Check back in later this week to see what's cookin'. Until then.

For you "24" fans

2006-03-10T21:58:00.000-05:00

No real dinner report tonight. I simply cooked up some jumbo shrimp and we had shrimp cocktail and tossed salad.

Just an observation for all the "24" fans out there.

President Logan and President Nixon--seperated at birth?

Dinner Tonight-Pepper Steak

2006-03-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

I had a hankering for Pepper Steak tonight and with extra beef in the deep freeze and some red bell peppers to use, I went on a search for a new recipe. I came up with a winner from Rachael Ray, Pepper Steak and Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms. While this recipe does call for a boxed rice pilaf mix, it is a product that I do use and trust, Near East.

You begin by sauteing some chopped mushrooms, then add some water and the Near East Rice Pilaf (I used a Brown Rice Pilaf). While this simmers, you sear some strips of beef, using a good cut of meat such as some tenderloin or sirloin. Remove from heat and saute up the peppers and onions. The sauce is made from flour, sherry, beef consumme, and tomato paste. Serve the pepper steak over the pilaf for a quick and tasty weeknight meal.

On the side I prepared the salad that was served with this meal on the show, Mixed Salad with "House Dressing." This was a quick salad, although the dressing seemed to be lacking something. Maybe I just needed to add more salt. It was allright, but not as good as the Pepper Steak. All in all, a quick and satisfying meal.

Recipes

Pepper Steak and Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms
Mixed Salad with "House Dressing"

A Toast to Me and a Double Duty Recipe!

2006-03-06T17:46:00.000-05:00

First of all, a big toast to me! I passed the Certified Nephrology Nurse Exam! Everyone from my organization passed! What a big relief. So if you are enjoying a glass of wine this evening, lift a toast to me!

Now on to the Double Duty Recipe! This is a recipe of Rachael Ray's that I modified a bit to use some ground sirloin I had in the freezer. Florentine Meatballs combine all the wonderful ingredients of meatballs along with spinach (which officially qualifies me as a Sneaky Mom).
I actually made these on Friday and served Meatball Subs on my own homemade sub buns.
The recipe originally makes 12 large meatballs, but I made 30 small meatballs. It is a Double Duty recipe because I had enough meatballs left over to make Spaghetti with Meatballs this evening for dinner. Cook once and use twice, what a great concept!

I came home from work Saturday and DH surprised me with a new computer! Ours was about 5 years old and on it's last leg. I have been spending what time I have had over the weekend trying to get my login set up the way I wanted and transferring files and such. It is a big job, but fun none the less. The old computer will become Zac's for him to use until it dies a slow and painful death (or it may be a fast death with Zac at the helm).

That is it for this evening. I am off to get my Monday 24 fix, which is a 2 hour fix this week. Be sure to check out The Savory Notebook for the VRC roundup of the week and tune in to Sweetnicks tomorrow for ARF Tuesday. Check back later this week to see what's cookin.

Recipe

Meatball Subs using Florentine Meatballs

Spaghetti and Florentine Meatballs

Recipe Catch-up

2006-03-03T19:37:00.000-05:00

I thought it was about time I got caught up talking about the recipes I have made over the last week.

Most of these came from the wonderful folks over at the Cooking Light Bulletin Board. First up we have Pasta Rustica with Chicken Sausage and Three Cheeses. This was an easy weeknight meal to put together and it was very good. Gooey and cheesey and kid friendly. I again used Barilla Plus Pasta. I only wish this stuff came in more shapes! I did read a story in my newspaper today about the growing popularity of whole grain pasta and how the quality has improved in the last few years. Maybe we will be seeing more unusual shapes in the future.

Pasta Rustica with Chicken Sausage and Three Cheeses
adapted from the Cooking Light Bulletin Board

Next we have a stew recipe that has been in my to try list for a long time. West African Chicken Sausage and Groundnut Stew. This is an interesting dish since it contains peanut butter. The peanut butter is the "groundnut" of this stew and it thickens the dish as well as adding an unusual flavor. This was quite good and spicey.

West African Chicken and Groundnut Stew
adapted from the Cooking Light Bulletin Board

While perusing the boards lately, I came across a post by a very prolific cook and baker known as valchemist. She had conducted a taste test of several granola recipes and posted the recipes along with her results and reviews. Down to Earth Granola received high prase from valchemist so I gave it a try. This is a simple and tasty granola with just the right amount of crunch. I have made 2 batches with the addition of some walnuts in the second batch. I love mixing granola with yogurt and it is really much more economical to make your own granola.

Down To Earth Granola
from the Cooking Light Bulletin Board

Lastly we have a recipe of my own creation. I have recently done an inventory of my deep freeze after reading about Alysha at The Savory Notebook doing one. I knew I had many items in there to use up, among them several packages of pork loin chops. I was looking in the pantry and noticed a can of Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup. DH really likes souped up entrees so I came up with Mustard-Mushroom Chops over Brown and Wild Rice. This would be a nice weeknight meal also with the rice taking the longest to cook. Once I got the rice going, it was easy to put the rest of the meal together.

Mustard-Mushroom Chops over Brown and Wild Rice
from Patti's Kitchen

That's all fo tonight. Be sure to check in later this weekend to see what's cookin. Until then.

Inexpensive Wine Alert! Delicato Shiraz in the Bota Box!

2006-03-02T19:29:00.000-05:00

Delicato Shiraz is available as a boxed wine. Yes, I said a boxed wine. Now I have tried boxed wines in the past only to think they tasted like cheap vinegar. This is GOOD, inexpensive wine.
Delicato's boxed wines are in what they call a "Bota Box." They promise to deliver quality wine in a box that will keep for up to a month after opening (mine never has a chance to last that long). It has an innovative drip free tap that is easy to use and the box is easy to store in the cabinet or refrigerator. The bota box is available also in Merlot and Chardonnay. I have never tried any of the other varietals since I like the Shiraz so much. I am also not a big Merlot or Chardonnay fan.

I purchase the Bota Box at my local Meijer Supermarket for approximately $15.00 per box. Each box is equivalent to 4 bottles of wine which amounts to about $3.75 per bottle. Not too bad in my book. An added bonus is that Meijer often has it on sale for $12.99.

So if you are in the market for some inexpensive but good wine for everyday, I highly recommend the Bota Box from Delicato Vineyards.

ARF Tuesday (early)-Edamame

2006-02-27T19:55:00.000-05:00

First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of posts over the last week or so. There is just so much going on in my life right now that blogging has gone to the back burner. I foresee not posting everyday for a while, but I will post when I can.

For dinner tonight I went back to the Meatless Monday theme and prepared a very nutritious soup from the March issue of Everyday Food. This is a Martha Stewart publication that I really enjoy. It has some simple yet tasty recipes every month. Edamame Corn Chowder is quick, tasty, and very healthy. For those of you not familiar with edemame, it is young or immature soybeans. It can be purchased shelled or in the pod and in the frozen food section of your supermarket. All that is available here is the "in the pod" version which can be shelled before (as for this recipe) or after cooking. It has a nutty/beany taste and is kind of sweet. Very good, and very good for you also.

This is an under 30 minute dish ( if you can find shelled edamame, otherwise you have about 20 minutes of shelling to do). You begin by browning and crisping some bacon, remove to drain and saute some chopped onion until soft. Add broth, potato, and seasoning, simmer then add corn, edamame, and half-and-half. Simmer until all veggies are tender and you are good to go! Of course, I could eat soup every night and I would not complain!

I will be submitting this dish for Sweetnicks ARF Tuesday feature. Be sure to check it out tomorrow evening.

That is it for tonight. I will be cooking from various magazine sources this week. Check back in to see what's cookin'.

Edemame Corn Chowder
Adapted from Everyday Food, March 2006, page 141

Life

2006-02-24T05:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Life has gotten in the way of blogging. Be back soon.

Crabby Pasta!

2006-02-20T19:41:00.000-05:00

Have you ever just had a craving for something so bad you just had to stop and get it? I had a craving after work today for grapes (at least it was something healthy!). I stopped at the local grocery and it was fate since they had them on sale! I picked up some beautiful black grapes. I know I will be taking some to work with me tomorrow.

For dinner tonight I wanted to use some of the canned crab I bought recently so I decided on a new recipe I got from CopyCat Recipes for Crab Alfredo. It is supposed to be a clone of a famous chain seafood restaurant's dish. This was good, but it was very thick. I added some pasta water to thin it some, but as it cooled it became thicker. I used Fat Free Half and Half instead of cream so I cannot imagine how thick it would be if you used regular cream or half and half! I will make this again, only add more liquid or reduce the butter/flour mixture. The flavor was very good and the crabmeat really came through. It was not overpowered by the Parmesan cheese in the sauce. I served this over Barilla Plus spaghetti and we had a salad along with it. I did make a Basic Vinaigrette to serve on the salad that is very simple and very good that I copied from a cookbook I picked up at the library.

Tomorrow after work I have a mandatory meeting to attend so I won't be home until late. The big wigs at work are feeding us at the meeting so the boys will be on their own tomorrow unless I feel really generous and rambunctious after work. Until then.

Recipes

Basic Vinaigrette
Crab Alfredo

Update for the week, VRC, WDB.

2006-02-19T19:34:00.000-05:00

WOW, what a busy and stressful week! I am so glad the Nephology Exam is over. I will not know the results for 4 to 6 weeks. I have taken this test before...and did not pass. That time I walked away knowing I did not pass. I feel better about this time. It is a tough test.

I really did not follow a specific plan this past week. Cooking was sort of hit or miss. Wednesday evening we had a Cooking Light recipe, Border-Style Shrimp.

Border-Style Shrimp
adapted from Cooking Light

This was quite flavorful. I held back on the cumin only using 1 teaspoon while the original recipe called for 2 teaspoons. I should have went with the 2 teaspoons. I served this over brown rice, but there was not quite enough sauce to make the rice more moist.

Thursday evening brought the Cheese Sandwich and Potato Soup. Alysha at The Savory Notebook has a Virtual Recipe Club, and the theme this week is potatoes! I am submitting the soup for the VRC round-up this week. Biscuit Girl is doing the hosting this week over at You Gonna Eat All That?. Be sure to check it out.

Friday evening we had a Martha Stewart recipe I got off the Martha Stewart Living web site.

Pork Chops with Herb Stuffing

adapted from Martha Stewart

This were very good and very simple to prepare. Perfect for a busy weeknight meal. I did make my slits in the chops a little too big and I had to tie them with butchers twine to keep the stuffing in! I will know not to do that the next time! We had these with a simple salad and steamed broccoli with lemon. These were a big hit with the men of the family, including Buster who enjoyed a bone from DH afterward.

Weekend Dog Blogging #22, Buster enjoys a bone!

Buster ALWAYS takes any treat to the ugly carpet in the bedroom to chew it or eat it. I had to sneak up on him to get a photo! Alicat from Something So Clever is hosting WDB this weekend as Sweetnicks is in the hospital! Be sure to stop by her site and wish her well. We miss you Sweetnicks! Take care of yourself and get better soon!

Saturday evening I was wiped out after that test.

For dinner this evening we had a favorite dish from the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards, Oven Beef Stew.

Oven Beef Stew
adapted from the Cooking Light Bulletin Board

This is a hearty and filling stew. You brown the stew beef, add some flour and seasonings, beef stock and red wine(which I omitted this time, just add an equal amount of stock). Bring to a simmer and add the vegetables. Cover and braise in the oven for 2 hours. The end product is a thick, rich stew. Very comforting with the frigid weather we are having here in central Indiana today. Thursday when I left work the car thermometer registered 62 degrees. When I got up this morning it was 6 degrees! Crazy weather for sure!

That is it for tonight. I have not been able to enjoy any of the Olympics this last week so I think I will go watch some for the evening. I still have not made my menu for this week, but I will be cooking from the net this week with recipes I have gleaned from the Internet. Check back in to see what's cookin'.

Recipes
Border-Style Shrimp
Pork Chops with Herb Stuffing
Oven Beef Stew

Cheese Sandwich & Soup

2006-02-16T20:16:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I am still furiously studying for the Certified Nephrology Nurse exam. I will post a roundup this weekend after the test.

For dinner tonight it was soup and sandwich night, CHEESE SANDWICHES to be exact! I used some homemade bread I made yesterday and some wonderful Vermont White Cheddar Cheese. Buttered the outside of the bread slices and grilled them up in the skillet. Wonderful, yet simple food. Along with these we had Potato Soup. I never really follow a recipe for Potato Soup, I usually just wing it as I go. You start with chopped carrot, onion, celery, and cubed potatoes. Preheat a soup pot with a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil. Add the veggies and saute for a couple minutes. Then add about 1/4 cup flour, salt and pepper to taste, and cook just enough so the flour doesn't taste raw. Add 1 quart of chicken stock and simmer until veggies are tender. Then add some milk, about 2 cups or so. Heat through and serve with grated cheddar cheese and/or bacon bits if desired. Good SIMPLE stuff!

Back to the studying. At least I am off work tomorrow and I can study all day a (sounds like a fun way to spend your day off doesn't it). Check in over the weekend to see what's cookin'.

Recipes
Potato Soup

Blues with BB

2006-02-15T20:51:00.000-05:00

The man still has it at 80 years young. BB, you put on a fantastic show. Nuff said.

Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre

2006-02-12T19:11:00.000-05:00

The show at Beef and Boards last night was fantastic. For a small stage production of Phantom, it was very well done and all the performers were superb. Tony Lawson played the role of Erik, or The Phantom with passion. His voice was very powerful and haunting. Krista Severeid as Christina demonstrated a magnificent range with her singing voice. Other performers included Peter Kevoian, Timothy Ford, and Beef and Boards regulars Ty Stover, Suzanne Stark, and Jeff Stockberger. Phantom will be playing at Beef and Boards until the first week in April. If you are in the Indianapolis area, this is one show not to miss.

The menu on the buffet included Carved Roast Beef, Sesame Chicken, Blazing Red Fish, Noodles Alfredo, Mixed Vegetable Blend, Roasted Potatoes, Braised Red Cabbage, and the salad and fruit bar. The fish and the cabbage were very good. I did not have any of the beef but DH declared it excellent. We had a bottle of Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Shiraz with the meal. I have had this wine there before and it is a fruity and spicy shiraz with a bit of creaminess on the tongue. We choose to have our dessert at intermission. DH and I both had Creamsicle Cheesecake and Zac had Chocolate Moose with a Phantom mask iced on top. The cheesecake was very rich and creamy and Zac said the same about the moose. A very fun evening indeed.

After the show we went further south to Bloomington to spend the night with DH's brother and his wife, Roger and Cindy. We stayed up late catching up and making plans for our summer houseboat trip. We headed home this morning making another stop in Indianapolis at Costco to pick up a few needed items.

I will not be posting much this week as I need to spend much time studying for the Certified Nephrology Exam next Saturday. I have to present a topic at the review session Tuesday and I have not even read that section yet. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Enjoy the photos from the buffet. Cameras during the performances are prohibited, but I could photo as much of the food as I wanted!

Remember to check out Weekend Cat Blogging at Eat Stuff, Weekend Herb Blogging at Kalyn's Kitchen, and Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnicks.

Buffalo

2006-02-10T19:56:00.000-05:00

Got the weekend off OH YEAH! Tomorrow evening we go to Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis for dinner and to see Phantom of The Opera. We have been to Beef and Boards several times and the shows have always been excellent. Dinner is buffet style with generally always prime rib, chicken, and fish along with numerous sides, salads, and fresh fruit. I will take my camera and shoot some pics of the food if they allow it. If you are ever staying in the Indianapolis area, Beef and Boards is a fun evening.

No recipes to review tonight but I do have some product reviews.

Great Range Ground Buffalo

For dinner we had Bison Burgers and fries. We have not had burgers and fries for a long time and this is one of Zac's favorite meals (typical teenager). Bison meat is very lean, 90% lean to be exact. This meat has much more flavor than 90% lean ground beef. This is the brand that our local Marsh Supermarket has available about every 6 weeks. In addition to the ground meat, they also have steaks available. At $4.99 per pound for the ground bison, it compares in price to extra lean ground beef.

For the fries we had Alexia brand frozen gourmet Sweet Potato Fries. I am not a big fan of convenience foods, but I think these are really good. No trans fats and all natural ingredients. They come in a variety of styles and flavors. We like the sweet potato fries and the Rosemary and Olive Oil Potatoes the best. These are definitely not greasy as some frozen fries are and they have pretty good flavor. Every once in a while, convenience foods do come in handy. When I do resort to them, I always try to feed my family the highest quality I can find.

Taking a Break

2006-02-09T18:31:00.000-05:00

Taking a break from the cookin' and bloggin' tonight! It is frigid here and I just want to curl up and veg out for the evening. Be back tomorrow. Have a good night.

Patti

Dinner Tonight - Greek Chicken with Feta and Tomatoes

2006-02-08T19:43:00.000-05:00

This has been a lazy day. Since I had the day off work I had planned to get a lot of little things done, instead I just took it easy most of the day and relaxed. Good to do every now and then (although I should have studied for that dang test).

Dinner tonight was another winner from Fresh Everyday. Greek Chicken with Feta and Tomatoes combines all the wonderful flavors common in a Greek Salad. Greek olives, tomatoes, oregano, and feta cheese. You begin by marinating the chicken breasts in a mixture of lemon juice, lemon zest, white wine, salt, pepper, and oregano. The original recipe calls for fresh oregano, but I subbed Penzey's dried. This summer when my oregano is abundant in the herb garden I will definitely make this with fresh. I marinated this in my FoodSaver marinating dish which claims to marinate in just a short time what in a normal dish would take overnight. I think this works well and you can taste the flavors in the food. One of the best things I love my FoodSaver for.

After the marinating, you simply cook the chicken in the skillet until browned, remove, cook up the sauce, and add the chicken back. Add some olives and top with crumbled feta cheese before serving. This is a very good dish and after all the chopping is done it is quick to cook.

On the side we had another dish from Fresh Everyday, Winter Rice Pilaf. This has leek, carrot, long grain and wild rice blend, orange, and quinoa. This was very good and a definite repeater. The original recipe also has golden raisins added at the end. I did not want to push too much on the family at once with the quinoa added, so I skipped the raisins. But next time...And there will be a next time for sure. This had excellent flavor and the quinoa added a bit of nuttiness to the finished dish. We rounded the meal out with a tossed salad.

Tomorrow is a long day at work and I really do not have any dinner plans. I may spring for a Take and Bake pizza, which would please Zac to no end. Check back in to see what's cookin'. Until then.

Recipes
Greek Chicken with Feta and Tomatoes
adapted from Fresh Everyday by Sara Foster

Winter Rice Pilaf
adapted from Fresh Everyday by Sara Foster

Busy Week Ahead!

2006-02-07T19:30:00.000-05:00

Hello all! Wow, I was thinking today about all I have going on over the next 10 days or so. First of all, we have been thinking about a move to a different house. That has been occupying my thoughts a lot. Can we afford it? Do I really want to clean a 3000 square foot house? On the other hand, the price would be right, I would be living in the house with a big kitchen, it is a historic home that is being restored so it should not require any repairs right away. Decisions, decisions.
On Saturday evening we are going to see Phantom of The Opera at a dinner theatre in Indianapolis. Valentines day we go see B.B. King (Oh Yeah!). Then on the 18th I take the big Nephology Exam. I have to study more and I hate studying. Oh well, enough about that. Suffice it to say, I have a lot on my plate right now!

On our plates tonight was some good old-fashioned Hoosier pork chops. I simply rubbed the chops with a small amount of olive oil and seasoned with sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, and marjoram. Then they were seared in a hot cast-iron skillet. Simple fare. I served Lemon Roasted Asparagus on the side. Very good and quick to get to the table, under 30 minutes actually (Take that Rachael!)

Be sure to check out Dispensing Happiness tonight as Stephanie is hosting ARF Tuesday for Sweetnicks who is on vacation someplace warm and tropical! Must be nice, I could use something warm and tropical about now! Have a good night and check in tomorrow to see what's cookin'.

California Dreamin'

2006-02-06T20:39:00.001-05:00

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I went for a walk
On a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.
California dreamin'
On such a winter's day

Remember that old song by The Mamas & The Papas? That song kept running through my head as I prepared dinner. California Cobb Salad is a refreshing and summery treat on such a winter's day here in Indiana. This tasty salad comes from Fresh Everyday by Sara Foster. It begins with a bed of two greens, lettuce (I used red leaf) and arugula. Arugula is also known as Rocket. This peppery flavored herb is a favorite of mine to use in salads.

Topping the greens are eggs, bacon, cucumber, grape tomatoes, avocado (another favorite) and blue cheese. Dressed with a homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette and you have a salad that is hard to beat. You can also add some cooked shredded chicken if desired. Yum.

That is all for tonight. Be sure to check in tomorrow to see what's cooking. Until then.

Recipe
California Cobb Salad
adapted from Fresh Everday by Sara Foster

Beans!

2006-02-05T19:50:00.000-05:00

The cookbook I will be using this week is another by Sara Foster. Fresh Everyday has gotten many a good review on the Cooking Light Bulletin Board and it is one I have used many times in the past. There are recipes for all seasons in this lovely cookbook.

Dinner tonight was Navy Bean Soup with Rosemary and Smoky Ham Hocks served with Skillet Cornbread and potatoes. I thought everything was very good and had lots of flavor. I love bean soups so it doesn't take much to please me in that respect. DH did not care for the rosemary in the soup however. Beans and Ham Hocks are sort of a Hoosier tradition. Around here it is always served with cornbread and potatoes.

After an overnight soak, the beans are cooked with onions, garlic, celery, ham hocks, and seasonings in chicken stock until tender. Remove the hocks and shred the meat before returning to the soup pot. Very good and full of fiber.

The cornbread is cooked in a cast-iron skillet in a hot oven. While you mix the cornbread, the skillet pre-heats in the oven with the oil. When you add the mix, it sizzles and helps to make the crust brown and crispy. This was a very good cornbread with just a small amount of sugar added. Many southerners frown on sugar in their cornbread.

I even prepared a dessert from this book today. Dark Chocolate Souffle Cake is a flourless chocolate cake that is very rich and decadent. I love dark chocolate, but this was a bit too dark for DH. I really struck out in the cooking department with him today! I thought everything was excellent however.

That is it for tonight. Off to watch the half-time show. Until tomorrow.

Recipes
Navy Bean Soup with Rosemary and Smoky Ham Hocks
adapted from Fresh Everyday by Sara Foster

Skillet Cornbread
from Fresh Everyday by Sara Foster

Dark Chocolate Souffle Cake
from Fresh Everyday by Sara Foster

WDB # 20

2006-02-05T17:44:00.000-05:00

Where does the snow end and the dog begin?

Head over to Something So Clever to check out the other pups!

Kid Friendly and Easy

2006-02-04T19:47:00.000-05:00

Fortunately we did not get all the snow predicted...yet. We got about 2 inches but another 2 could fall overnight. Here in central Indiana the winter has been pretty mild so far. I noticed yesterday that I have many of my herbs coming up in the herb garden. I hope this recent snow and cold snap doesn't do them in.

Sloppy Joes from Cooking Light magazine were for dinner tonight and a snap to prepare. Brown up some ground sirloin with onions and bell pepper, add your seasonings and tomato sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. Being able to get dinner on the table quickly is great on the days I work late. I served this on homemade burger buns (that I made yesterday while I was home) and with a tossed salad on the side. Filling and satisfying.

Moomie's Beautiful Burger Buns comes from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. This particular recipe has made the rounds on the internet as well. The recipe first appeared on the King Arthur Flour message circle where it was posted by Ellen Dill. It quickly gained in popularity. These are very easy to make by hand, with a stand mixer, or in a bread machine. The original recipe uses all-purpose flour which I changed to my favorite White Whole Wheat Flour.

That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I will be planning for the next week. I have not chosen a source for the recipes next week, so I will be perusing the cookbooks tonight. Be sure to check all the kitties for Weekend Cat Blogging at Eat Stuff, the pups tomorrow for Weekend Dog Blogging at Something So Clever. Sweetnicks is on vacation to someplace warm and sunny so Alicat will be hosting this weekend. And check out Weekend Herb Blogging at Kalyn's Kitchen. Until tomorrow.

Recipes
Sloppy Joes
from Cooking Light, January/February 2004

Moomie's Beautiful Burger Buns
adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion

Make My Own Asian Take-Out

2006-02-03T20:12:00.000-05:00

I generally do not sit down and watch Emeril Live on The Food Network very often, but last night he had a guest chef with him cooking. Martin Yan. I always enjoyed watching his old show Yan Can Cook when it was on PBS and The Food Network. Zac always loved to watch also and he remembered who it was as soon as the name was mentioned last night. So it was destined that we watch. Mr. Yan and Emeril proceeded to prepare various Asian dishes throughout the show, but the one that got my attention was Sesame-Orange Beef.

This dish was fairly simple and quick to prepare. You begin with tri-tip sliced thinly and marinated briefly in soy sauce and cornstarch. Cook it up with some ginger, add the orange sauce, orange segments, and pineapple. Garnish and serve. Very easy and very tasty. I did think it was just a tad too salty so next time I will cut back on either the soy or the oyster sauce.

I made two side dishes from the May 2005 issue of Cooking Light that are by Mark Bittman. Ginger Fried Rice and Hot and Sour Soup. DH loves Hot and Sour Soup and I have never made it before. I thougth both of these dishes were good and quick to prepare. I cannot say if the soup compares to what you get in a Chinese restaurant as I have never ordered it before. It sure was tasty though. Just the right combination of sour, not overpowering at all. The fried rice was very flavorful from the large amount of ginger in the recipe.

That is all for tonight. We are expecting a significant amount of snowfall tomorrow so things may get ugly on the roads here by the time I get off work. Until then.

Recipes

Sesame-Orange Beef
from Martin Yan and The Food Network

Hot and Sour Soup
adapted from Cooking Light, May 2005

Ginger Fried Rice
From Cooking Light, May 2005

Multigrain Bread and Yankee Pot Roast

2006-02-02T21:50:00.000-05:00

Today was a day off work and I really wanted to make this bread I saw in the March/April issue of Cooks Illustrated. The author stated they were hoping to make a flavorful multigrain bread that is not hard as a rock, but with a soft sandwich bread texture. This fits the bill. This bread reminds me of bakery style multigrain bread. It takes a little planning because the multigrain cereal needs to soak for 1 hour before you start mixing the dough. There is a 20 minute rest period after it is mixed before you knead the dough. The recipe makes 2 loaves.

For dinner tonight we had a Traditional Yankee Pot Roast from August 2002 issue of Cooking Light. This was good. Not WOW, but good. The meat was very tender and had good flavor. There seemed to be a lot of cooking liquid by the time the dish was finished, much more than I started with. I cooked this in my LeCreuset and maybe it formed more condensation. The 2 cups of chopped onions contributed much to the finished flavor of the dish. Very similar to the method I have always used to make pot roast. I usually add a sprig or two of rosemary or thyme, but I followed this recipe exactly.

That is all for tonight. I am thinking of changing up the menu for tomorrow to cook something I saw on FoodTV tonight. Until then.

Recipes
Mutigrain Bread
from Cooks Illustrated, March/April 2006

Traditional Yankee Pot Roast
from Cooking Light, August 2002

Soup Night!

2006-02-01T19:01:00.000-05:00

Alysha at The Savory Notebook hosts a blogging event known as The Virtual Recipe Club. The theme for this week is SOUP. Tonight's dinner from Cooking Light, Chunky Potato-Crab Chowder definitely fits the soup theme. Despite this being a light soup, it did have a nice creamy texture. The flavor of the crab meat shines in this soup. Crab meat tends to be somewhat sweet. One of the ingredients of this soup is canned cream-style corn. According to Cooking Light, this is added to enhance the creamy texture. However, combined with the crab meat we thought it made it just a little too sweet. I will definitely make this again, but I think the addition of a little bit of cayenne pepper will help offset some of the sweetness and enhance the flavor.

Michele of Chef Michele's Adventures posted a cute foodie quiz today

What Kind of Food are You?

You Are French Food

Snobby yet ubiquitous.
People act like they understand you more than they actually do.

What Kind of Food Are You?

So I am French Food. Pretty cool. What are you?

Day off from work tomorrow so I will be making a comfort food dinner from Cooking Light. I also checked out the latest issue of Cook's Illustrated and found a new bread recipe I wish to try. Until then.

Recipes

Chunky Potato-Crab Chowder
adapted from Cooking Light, October 2003

Dinner Tonight - Wasabi Salmon

2006-01-31T19:53:00.000-05:00

The only way I ever had salmon as a kid was canned made into salmon patties. We had them at least once a week. When I was married to my first husband we lived very close to my brother. Money was tight then and I was making salmon patties for dinner one evening while my brother was at the house. Now my brother is a lot like my Dad was, very thrifty. He suggested I buy canned Jack Mackerel the next time instead of canned salmon. I checked it out at the store and it was a lot cheaper than the salmon. But it did not taste nearly as good. I never tasted fresh salmon fillets or steaks until I was well into my 30's and I had ditched the first husband. What a tremendous difference! I still will occasionally make salmon patties with the canned stuff, but I much prefer fresh fillets anytime!

Wasabi Salmon is a great way to prepare some fresh salmon fillets. This is a recipe from Cooking Light that is one of our favorites. The salmon fillets are marinated briefly in the soy/wasabi marinade and cooked off in a non-stick skillet in a matter of minutes. The short marinade time really imparts much flavor to the fish. I suggest you follow the directions and use a low-sodium soy sauce as the regular stuff will make it too salty.

For the side dishes we had tossed salad along with Broccoli with Orange Sauce, another Cooking Light recipe from 1995. This was good, but it did not overly impress us. I much prefer a lemon flavor with broccoli. I steamed the broccoli on top of the stove with my very old steamer basket, and it was slightly overcooked. I have a vegetable steamer, but I did not want to get it out and it takes longer to use. However, I prefer the flavor of it when it is cooked in boiling water for just a few minutes and then placed in an ice bath to stop the cooking. You could always toss the broccoli with the sauce in the skillet to reheat it. I may try that method next time.

Be sure to check out the ARF Tuesday roundup over at Sweetnicks tonight for some new recipes using lots of veggies and antioxidant rich foods! Sweetnicks does such a great job with this weekly roundup, I can't keep up with all the great new recipes to try!

Also, Alysha at The Savory Notebook has started a weekly Virtual Recipe Club. The theme this week is SOUP! A woman after my own heart! I could eat soup every night and never tire of it. Be sure to check it out this week!

For tomorrow we have another main dish from the Cooking Light archives that will use some of the canned crabmeat I stocked up on. Be sure to check it out! Until then, enjoy the recipes.

Recipes
Broccoli With Orange Sauce
adapted from Cooking Light, March 1995

Wasabi Salmon
adapted from Cooking Light, December 2003

Meatless Monday - Family Frittata

2006-01-30T20:08:00.000-05:00

Busy day at work today, as par for the course on Monday. For those of you not familiar with dialysis, it is the process of doing the work of your kidneys for people who no longer have functioning kidneys. They are connected to a machine for the course of their treatment. Treatment times (at our facility) can range from 3 hours to 5 1/2 hours. The patients require treatment 3 times a week. We see them more often than some of their own families! It is easy to see how the staff can become very attached to the patients and vice-versa. It is always a celebration when one of our patients gets "The Call" to go for a transplant. Unfortunately, that does not happen often enough. So here is my plug and it is the only time you will hear it. Be an organ donor if at all possible! It can save many lives.

Staying with the Meatless Monday theme we had another frittata for dinner. This one comes from Cooking Light Magazine, May 1998. Family Frittata was loaded with good veggies and was easy to prepare. This frittata cooks for a time on top of the stove and then is moved under the broiler to finish and brown the top. We had this with a garnish of low-fat sour cream which complemented it perfectly. I thought the veggies on the bottom may have been a little overcooked so you may want to cut down on the time somewhat. Otherwise, it will be a repeater here. Best of all, I have leftovers for tomorrow to take to work and I have my entry for Sweetnicks ARF Tuesday!

On board for tomorrow is a favorite of our from Cooking Light that uses Wasabi Powder. Be sure to check in to see what is cooking! Until then.

Recipes

Family Frittata
adapted from Cooking Light, May 1998

Quiet Sunday

2006-01-29T20:02:00.000-05:00

Not a lot to blog about today. I kept busy doing household chores and planning next week's menu. I did make some chicken stock and I discovered that the Italian Batter Bread I made the other day makes excellent croutons! The boys have been requesting a meal that I only make about twice a year so I decided to accommodate them today. Thus dinner tonight was Fried Chicken. I like to use Alton Brown's method of marinating the chicken pieces in buttermilk overnight and then draining, seasoning, dredging, and frying. The boys were quite pleased. We also had Broccoli and Carrots with Toasted Almonds that Joe over at Culinary in The Desert made a few days ago.

So that's it for tonight. Be sure to checkout Weekend Dog Blogging over at Sweetnicks. I am off to watch Iron Chef America. I will leave you with a pic of the 168 ounces of chicken stock I made today! Whoo-hoo, the freezer is stocked with stock for a while!

Curry!

2006-01-28T19:48:00.000-05:00

I did make it to White Feather Farms today and I was able to pick up a few more cans of crab for $4.50 a can. Wow, that is an unbelievable price. I did not need any more cheese but they did have some samples of Barvarian Swiss and the price was good so I picked up a small package. While I was waiting in line to pay, a gentleman behind me was talking to Lisa, the owner of WFF about a Gorgonzola and pear spread with dried cranberries he had at Trader Joe's. He was buying Gorgonzola and dried cranberries and he said he was going to try to re-create it. My thought was that it is kind of funny how foodies all know where to shop for the good stuff!

We have been in the process of slowly remodeling the kitchen. It can be a slow process when you work as much as we do. We managed to get some drywall mudding out of the way and it will soon be ready to sand and paint. Not sure when we can get back on it since I work next weekend. Tomorrow my day will be tied up with laundry and other housework. It never seems to be done.

Tonight's dinner is the last one for this week from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner. I am kind of sorry to see this book end...for now anyway. There have been some very quick and easy yet terrific meals from this book. Tonight was no exception. Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk would be a wonderful work night meal and is packed with good flavor. With only 5 ingredients (minus the cooking oil and seasonings) it was together and on the table in about 30-40 minutes. I served it over some brown rice that I prepared in some vegetable broth. We had a salad with viniagrette along with this and it was well received by all. Even Zac said "I like curry."

No pics tonight for Weekend Cat Blogging or Weekend Dog Blogging. The animals are getting a bit weary of me taking their pictures. They hide if they see me with the camera so I guess I will give them a break. Kiri is on holiday over at Eat Stuff so Boo the cat at Masak-Masak is hosting WCB. Be sure to check it out. And check out Kalyn's Kitchen for Weekend Herb Blogging and Sweetnicks for WDB.

So, Goodbye to Mark Bittman for awhile. Next week I will not be cooking from a specific cookbook but from a magazine, Cooking Light. Check in to see what is cookin'. Until then.

Recipes
Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk
adapted from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman

Pizza Night!

2006-01-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

Not much to post about today. We had homemade pizza for dinner. I modified a pizza crust recipe from Wolfgang Puck by using white whole wheat flour (I Love this stuff!). If there is one thing Wolfie knows, it is pizza! The recipe is pretty simple and always produces a good crust. Using the whole wheat made it a little nutty tasting as well, not a bad thing in my book!

This is my weekend off work so I have a lot to do around the house plus planning the menu for next week. I hope I can go to White Feather Farms and find some more of that $4.50 canned crab! It will probably not be available though. I knew I should have bought more than one can last time!

That's it for tonight. I have some wine reviews that I hope to post this weekend. Check in tomorrow to see what's cookin'.

Recipes

Pizza Dough
adapted from Wolfgang Puck

A Day in the Kitchen

2006-01-26T20:00:00.000-05:00

Zac stayed home from school again today. He is beginning to feel better this evening so it is back to school tomorrow. His English class is taking a field trip to the library and he does not want to miss that.

Since I was home I played in the kitchen. I made Italian Batter Bread and some muffins of my own creation. Alysha at The Savory Notebook is having a Virtual Recipe Swap and this month's theme is grab and go healthy breakfast foods. The latest issue of Cooking Light did a story on the health benefits of peanut butter which inspired this idea. Plus, I like peanut butter and banana!

Italian Batter Bread

Peanut Butter and Banana Nut Muffins

Dinner tonight was again from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner. This one made up for the so-so dinner from last night. Spanish-Style Shrimp. This was quick, easy, and very good. The flavor of the shrimp is not masked by a heavy sauce, just the right amount of liquid to sop up with bread. I served this with a salad and the bread I made today of course! This is simple yet tasty fare. I really like this cookbook!

Spanish-Style Shrimp
adapted from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman

The Italian Batter Bread comes from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. I picked this book up at the library this week and I think I will need to copy many of the recipes. Mr Clayton apparently lives here in Indiana in Bloomington which is DH's home town. Maybe I can look him up some day!

Italian Batter Bread Texture

that's all for tonight folks. Check in tomorrow to see what's cookin'

Recipes
Italian Batter Bread
Peanut Butter Banana Nut Muffins
Spanish-Style Shrimp

Dinner Tonight - Chicken with Apricots

2006-01-25T23:02:00.000-05:00

Today was my day off and Zac was home with a fever and a cough. He is not better so I will be staying home with him tomorrow as well. He has been pretty quiet and not been very hungry today so I KNOW he is sick for sure. If he doesn't get better tomorrow, I guess it will be time for a call to the doc.

Dinner tonight was once again from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman. Chicken with Apricots just did not knock my socks off. Despite the vinegar and wine in the sauce, I felt it was too sweet. True to Bittman's style the dish was easy to prepare with only a few ingredients. I don't think it will be a repeater for us however. Maybe with a different dried fruit I would like it better.

I served this with some steamed broccoli and Crisp Potatoes from the same book. The potatoes were excellent. Crispy on the outside and fluffy and smooth on the inside. I have seen other chefs recommend par-boiling the potatoes before you roast or pan fry them and it really does make for a nice result. Again, a minimal number of ingredients for a very good side dish.

I have finally had the chance to make my experimental muffins I have been thinking about. I will post about them tomorrow. Until then.

Recipes

Chicken with Apricots
from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman

Crisp Potatoes
adapted from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman

Crabby Crabcakes!

2006-01-24T20:39:00.000-05:00

Dinner tonight was once again from Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks Dinner. Crabby Crabcakes (I love that name!) did not make me feel the least bit crabby! True to Bittman's style in this book, these were not fussy with very few ingredients. In the description of the recipe Bittman states "Getting the most out of crabcakes often means putting the least into them. When you start loading them up with white bread, corn, curry, and complicated sauces, you might be making them different, but you're not making them better."

These were among some of the best crabcakes I have ever had, at home or in a restaurant. I used can crab that I purchased on my trip to White Feather Farms a few days ago. The flavor of the crabmeat really came through and the cakes were delicate and flaky. If you like crabcakes (like my boss Tobey) you will like these. I highly recommend you giving these a try.

I served these with a homemade tartar sauce (mayonnaise, chopped shallots, pickle relish) with a simple salad and bread. A very relaxed and unfussy meal, but very satisfying and flavorful.

Be sure to check Sweetnicks for the ARF Tuesday round-up. Until tomorrow, enjoy the recipe.

Recipe
Crabby Crabcakes

ARF Tuesday (a day early) and the 7's Meme

2006-01-23T19:12:00.000-05:00

I mentioned yesterday that I have been on the prowl for a good mushroom soup recipe. Fast Creamy Mushroom Soup from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner is the closest I have come so far. This was very simple to prepare and the result was a rich and tasty soup. Bittman uses dried along with fresh mushrooms in this version. The stock from the re-hydrating of the dried mushrooms adds richness and depth of flavor to the base of the soup. I thought the soup did lack a little something so I added a few drops of hot sauce which really perked it up. This soup delivers big flavor for very little effort in preparation.

Be sure to head over to Sweetnicks tomorrow night for the ARF roundup. I've got it covered!

Fast Creamy Mushroom Soup

I have been tagged for the 7's cooking meme by Michele over at Chef Michele's Adventures (Thank-you Michele)! After much thought, here we go.

Seven Culinary Things to do Before I Die

1. Make a souffle.
2. Cook and serve a whole lobster (yes, I have never done this)
3. Meet Alton Brown
4. Enter a cooking contest and win
5. Make my own wine
6. Make my own cheese
7. Live in a house with a large, well equipped kitchen

Seven Things I Can't do in The Kitchen
1. Make a perfect pie crust
2. Cook if there are just a few dirty dishes in the sink
3. Crack an egg with one hand
4. Keep my cabinets neat and organized so DH doesn't get upset
5. Flip food in the skillet with a flick of the wrist (like the TV chefs)
6. Peel and chop onions without needing a tissue (just like Michele)!
7. Prepare a Rachael Ray 30 minute meal in 30 minutes

Seven Things That Attract Me to Food Blogging
1. It is FUN
2. Helps me organize my recipes
3. Utilizes my cookbooks
4. Did I mention it is fun?
5. I am learning more about my digital camera
6. Learning about HTML and building web sites
7. Meeting new friends online

Seven Thing I Say Most Often While Cooking
1. Oh s--t!
2. Ouch
3. Oh man, I am out of ____
4. Don't touch that, it is for dinner later
5. Get out of my way!
6. When you are through, clean up your mess
7. Dinner's ready!

Seven Cookbooks I Love
1. King Arthur Flour Baking Companion
2. Cookwise
3. I'm Just Here For The Food
4. I'm Just Here For More Food
5. 30 Minute Meals 2
6. How To Be a Domestic Goddess
7. Nigella Bites

Seven Cooking Shows I Can Watch Over and Over Again
1. Good Eats
2. 30 Minute Meals
3. Everyday Italian
4. Iron Chef (original or America)
5. Nigella Bites
6. Food 911
7. Barefoot Contessa

That's it! I now tag Alysha at The Savory Notebook, Erika at Tummy Treasure, and Punky at Busy Nights Real Food.

Until tomorrow.

Recipes
Fast Creamy Mushroom Soup

Sunday Dinner

2006-01-22T20:34:00.000-05:00

You may remember that leftovers were planned for last night. Well, I got home from work and DH was fixing dinner! Some steaks and salad. It is always nice to come home after my long Saturday and find him cooking dinner. Thank-you dear!

The cookbook I have chosen to utilize this week is The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman. I really like this book so far. The entrees are not too fussy and he makes suggestions for sides and wine to serve with the entree. I have planned the entire week from this book!
On to tonight's dinner. Bittman has a bread recipe in his book he calls 60-Minute Bread. I decided to give it a whirl. It is not bad. Not fantastic, but just as good as a grocery store bakery bread and very easy to make.
For the entree we had Pork Cutlet with Hoisin-Red Wine Sauce. The recipe in the book is for Miso-Red Wine Sauce and calls for red miso. I could not find any miso at the store and I already had some hoisin on hand, so the rest is history. The sauce was very smooth and had bold flavor. The chops were well received by all.
For the sides we had a simple salad of romaine and arugula with a soy viniagrette, and a Bittman's suggested side of Rice Salad with Peas and Soy. This was very good with a lot of different flavors going on that went well together. What is interesting is the use of Arborio rice for something other than risotto. This will also be a great salad for a summer picnic (or a houseboat trip). The recipe calls for fresh cilantro which I am not overly fond of so I used parsley since I have a lot of that on hand.
All in all, this was a nice Sunday dinner. Not too fussy and all were easy to put together. On tap for tomorrow is a mushroom soup. I have yet to find a good mushroom soup recipe so we will see how this one goes.

Zac redesigned the banner at the top of the page here. I don't know where he learns all this stuff, but I did not have a clue how to change the banner so there would be pictures there. Let me know what you think. Until tomorrow.

Recipes
60-Minute Bread
Pork Cutlet with Hoisin-Red Wine Sauce
Rice Salad with Peas and Soy

WDB # 18

2006-01-22T19:55:00.000-05:00

Here is Buster on the lookout in the backyard once again. He is such a brave dog!
Check out the other cute pups over at Sweetnicks.

WCB #33

2006-01-21T20:34:00.000-05:00

Here is a shot of Angus in a profile as he waits patiently by the back door. We had some spring like weather here in Indiana in January no less! Angus was itching to get out and explore!

Check out all the other kitties this weekend over at Eat Stuff.

Soup Night! Oh Yeah!

2006-01-20T19:42:00.000-05:00

Beginning today you will notice a slight change at Adventures in Food and Wine. I will now post the recipe picture and a link at the bottom of the post to the recipe on Adventures Recipes. Please be patient with me as I learn more about blogging. I thought it might get too unwieldy and unorganized with all the recipes on this blog. One of the purposes of this blog is to help me organize the recipes I try. Hope you will like the new format. In the future I hope to have a drop down box like Sweetnicks does for the recipes also.

I went to the library today and picked up Cooking Aboard Your RV. We are planning to spend a few days in June on a houseboat. RV, houseboat, should be about the same so I thought I would check this baby out. If any of you know some good recipes for camping/houseboating let me know. I have been put in charge of coming up with the menu for this trip.

Today my DS Chris moved closer to home. He moved to Cleveland Ohio and arrived today. He will still be working in the restaurant business. He plans to come for a visit again soon and we hope to visit him in Cleveland. After all, Cleveland is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and we have never been there.

I felt a bit ambitious today and made a couple recipes from cooking magazines. For me, nothing compares to hot soup and chewy bread for a meal. Brown Butter Soda Bread comes from the February 2006 issue of Bon Appetit and Kale and White Bean Soup comes from February 2002 issue of Gourmet. Both were excellent.

The bread was dense yet chewy and with the combination of rosemary and black pepper it is an excellent bread to serve with soup. This being a soda bread, it does not contain yeast which makes it great for throwing together without a lot of pre-planning. I changed the recipe a little by subbing some King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour for about half the required flour and subbing turbinado sugar for white sugar. I will be taking the extra loaf to work to share tomorrow.

Brown Butter Soda Bread

The soup was a bit more time consuming since it uses dried beans. I think it would work just as well with canned beans however. I like to use dried when I can because I think they have better flavor and texture. This is the first time I have ever cooked with kale and I must say it is good. I did have to fish the Parmesan rind out after cooking since it did not dissolve completely. I could definitely taste the Parmesan flavor however. I used Healthy Choice Keilbasa for the smoked sausage.

Kale and White Bean Soup
Isn't it cool that you can see the steam coming off the soup in this picture!

Tomorrow night will be leftover night since we have a lot of leftovers in the fridge. I have to work late anyway so a night off from cooking will be fine. I have been working on coming up with my own healthy muffin recipe. I have a few ideas and I hope to try one out this weekend. Until then.

Brown Butter Soda Bread
Kale and White Bean Soup

Comfort Food at it's best - Chicken Pot Pie

2006-01-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

Today I had to go to be recertified in CPR. What a way to spend your day off. It was scheduled from 10am to 3pm and thankfully we were done by 1:00. I am sure glad I do not have to use this skill very often and I only have to recert every 2 years.

Tonight's dinner from The Foster's Market Cookbook was Chicken Pot Pie with Foster's Herb Biscuits. This is comfort food! This was easy to put together and the flavor was out of this world. My only complaint is I think the filling should be a bit thicker.

The biscuits were light and fluffy. I usually do not make biscuits that are rolled out. I have a recipe from Cookwise by Shirley Corriher that I swear by because generally I am all thumbs when it comes to rolled and cut biscuits. These were the exception. The dough was very easy to work with and the biscuits are great. The herb I choose to add to the biscuit mix was chopped dill. This complimented the filling very well.

I am off work again tomorrow as this is my Saturday to work (oh joy). I hope to make something to take into work with me on Saturday. Check in over the weekend to see what is in the works. Until then, enjoy these recipes.

Recipes

Chicken Pot Pie with Foster's Herb Biscuits
from The Foster's Market Cookbook

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuits
from The Foster's Market Cookbook

Yalumba Unwooded Chardonnay

2006-01-19T18:55:00.000-05:00

Chardonnay is not a wine I will usually choose. Generally, I think they have too much oak. Last spring before the wine expert left my local wine store, he conducted a large tasting with over 50 wines. One was the Yalumba Unwooded Chardonnay. This is one Chardonnay that I really like. Big on citrus and tropical fruit, it has a nice, crisp, and refreshing taste. This goes well with grilled food in the summer and fish and chicken all year round. It sells for approximately $13.00.

Late, Late, Late

2006-01-18T22:11:00.001-05:00

This was a day for being late all around. First, I left for work and we had received about 2 inches of snow overnight. No big deal, I live 1 mile from my job. Well, at 5:45 am it was SLICKER THAN ... out there and I was consequently 2 minutes late for work. Then the day progressed in such a way that I got a late lunch break. After work, I stopped to pick up some dark beer to make tonight’s dinner. Now, I don’t often purchase beer. Wine, yes. Beer, no. OMG, choosing beer is worse than choosing a bottle of wine! Who knew there were so many to choose from? Lager, Amber, Pale Ale, Wheat Beer, Pumpkin Beer, and the list goes on and on. I finally asked a young gentleman who was buying a case of Coors if he could recommend something. I settled on Beck’s Dark Beer. Thus, my dilemma with choosing beer made my trip home longer than I expected, which made dinner late. We finally were able to eat about 8pm. Then Lost came on so now my evening post is late.

So what was for dinner you may ask? Fiery Three-Bean Chili from The Foster’s Market Cookbook. Oh boy, when they say Fiery, that is what they mean. I really did not think it would be all that hot but my mouth was on fire. The flavors were excellent thou. DH said "Where's the meat? You cannot make chili without meat." Even so, he still liked it and so did Zac. They can both tolerate hot a little better than me. I will be taking a Pepcid before I go to bed tonight for sure. Until tomorrow.

Recipes

Fiery Three-Bean Chili
from The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster

Dinner Tonight - Roast Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cranberries

2006-01-17T19:50:00.000-05:00

I had a busy and productive day at work. I will be taking an exam to become a Certified Nephrology Nurse on February 18. I was able to attend the first of weekly review sessions until the test. Today's topics were anemia and kidney transplant. I have a lot of studying to do between now and the test and I am very fortunate to have the review sessions to attend. It is a difficult exam.

Dinner tonight from The Foster's Market Cookbook was Roast Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cranberries and Rosemary. This was a very good dish. The pork was very tender and moist with excellent flavor. I put the marinade ingredients together this morning before I left for work and let it marinate all day. When I got home I just popped it into a pre-heated skillet to brown and then in the oven for approximately 25 minutes. Could not have been simpler. The guys are a little adverse to fruited meat, but this one was a winner. I served it with leftover Mac-N-Cheese and wilted spinach. Thus far all the recipes I have used from this book have been great.

For the wine I served Sockeye Pinot Noir from Oregon. This is one of my favorite wines. The local wine shop that sells this recently lost their wine expert and the shop was unable to get this wine in for weeks. Fortunately they had some when I stopped in last Saturday. This is not too dry and has a nice fruity aroma and taste. I am not a wine review expert, I just know what I like and if you like Pinot Noir, I highly recommend this one.

Also for you tonight is a recipe for Oatmeal Apple Muffins. These are great for grab and go mornings and very healthy to boot! I saw this recipe in the magazine supplement of my Sunday paper and knew I had to try it. The recipe comes from USA Weekend and allrecipes.com

So with these recipes I have the ARF Tuesdays covered for this week! Stop on over to Sweetnicks for the roundup. Enjoy the recipes. Until tomorrow

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cranberries and Rosemary
from Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster

Oatmeal Apple Muffins
from USA Weekend and allrecipes.com

Dinner Tonight - Frittata

2006-01-16T19:05:00.000-05:00

Wow, for all you 24 fans out there, I thought last nights episode was great! That is one show that really keeps you on the edge of your seat! 24 and Lost are the only TV shows I will watch on a regular basis. Most of what is on TV these days just doesn't interest me.

Since we are trying to stay with a "Meatless Monday" theme, tonights dinner from The Foster's Market Cookbook was Garden Vegetable Frittata. This was something very easy to put together and with a wonderful combination of flavors. I served it with just a little bit of sour cream on the side which was an excellent compliment to this vegetable laden dish. This will be a repeater for sure. As the author of the cookbook, Sara Foster says, you can use just about anything you have in your refrigerator in this dish. I think broccoli or asparagus would be nice. I followed the recipe for this outing but may change this one up the next time depending on what is available.

On tap for tomorrow is a couple of dishes that fit in with Sweetnicks ARF Tuesdays. Be sure to check out what I will be making with some dried cranberries. Until then, enjoy tonights recipe.

Recipes

Garden Vegetable Frittata
from The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster

Sunday Dinner

2006-01-15T19:26:00.000-05:00

What a sad day in Indiana since the Colts lost today. Everyone was hoping they would be in the Super Bowl this year. DH is a Bears fan so he still has hope that one of his teams will make it.

Dinner tonight was our first entree from this week's featured cookbook The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster. I love a roasted chicken so that seemed like the place to begin and Balsamic-Roasted Chicken lives up to the author's promises. Moist and extremely flavorful, DH proclaimed this chicken wonderful. This was easy to prepare and made the house smell magnificent while it was roasting.

On the side we had some mixed vegetables (Green Giant Tuscan Blend) and Mac and Cheese. I used a recipe from the Food Network as a guide and then went from there. Using some of the smoked gouda I picked up yesterday, this was rich and flavorful. DH has been asking for some mac and cheese for awhile so I thought to include it today. This is definatly not a light version but oh so good. I did use the Barilla Plus macaroni so that helped a little. And I made a bechamel sauce for the first time, YEAH!

I made a light dessert from the book also. Peach Cobbler. I lightened it by subbing Splenda for the sugar and using white whole wheat flour in the crust. This was good, not overly sweet and I think the white whole wheat flour gave it a somewhat nutty flavor. This is one I will repeat in this summer when peaches are in season.

24 returns tonight and I cannot wait to see what is in store for Jack Bauer this season. Until tomorrow.

Recipes

Balsamic-Roasted Chicken
from The Foster's Market Cookbook

Smoked Gouda Mac-N-Cheese
adapted from the Food Network

Peach Cobbler
adapted from The Foster's Market Cookbook

WDB # 17

2006-01-15T15:58:00.000-05:00

Buster relaxed and in heaven as he is loved on by Zac. He is hard to get a picture of because he usually will not look at the camera. I think he doesn't like the flash.

Check out all the other pups for this weekend over at Sweetnicks

White Feather Farms

2006-01-14T19:32:00.000-05:00

Well my trip to White Feather Farms was certainly productive as you can see here.

I picked up some Feta Cheese, Vermont Cheddar, Jarlsberg, Smoked Gouda, grated Parmesan and grated Three Cheese Blend, Quinoa, and a can of Crab Meat. That was the real bargain at only $4.50. I should have bought more than one but I have never tried this in the can before though I have seen it at Meijer and at Costco. Maybe some crab cakes this week?

The employees at White Feather Farms were very gracious and allowed me to play with my camera until it died.

Some kind of bleu, I did not need any but it sure looked good!

Cutting my slice of feta

Some Gouda

Jarslberg (yummo!)

I also picked up some beef hot dogs for the kid at only 50 cents a package. He had some for lunch and proclaimed them very good. Those finds are rare and usually only available until they are gone. Once I picked up some Plugra for $1.00 a pound. They have never had it since.

Dinner tonight was my last entree from Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats. DH really liked tonight's meal but said he is happy I am moving on to another cookbook for next week. Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp with Orzo and Caesar Salad was on the menu this evening and it was delicious (shrimp, feta, olives...you can't go wrong with that combination)! This was very flavorful and easy to put together. Instead of the recommended kalamata olives, I used a blend of olives as I have a large jar of them in the fridge. The olives and the feta added just the right amount of saltiness to this dish. After I prepped all the ingredients, it was done in under 10 minutes which would make it an easy weeknight meal. I only wish I could have found a whole grain orzo for this. I wonder if it would be good over quinoa? I may have to find out!

I have planned the menu for next week and the book I will be cooking from is The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster.
There are some terrific meals in this book and I cannot wait to get started. Dinner tomorrow will be from this wonderful book so check back in.

Until then, enjoy the recipe.

Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp and Orzo
adapted from 365: No Repeats by Racheal Ray

So we say so-long to Racheal, for a while anyway.

WCB #32

2006-01-14T11:22:00.000-05:00

Here is Angus all stretched out and relaxed on his favorite spot in the house. Oh to be so carefree!

Check out the other kitties at EatStuff

Dinner Tonight - Gorgonzola!

2006-01-13T19:09:00.000-05:00

Busy day at work today. I was on a roll this morning calling housekeeping and maintenance about some issues we were having all week. I guess by Friday I was just fed up. At least one of the problems was resolved today. My co-workers joked that they better not get on my bad side today. I actually work with a great group of people. All the staff are hard working and really seem to care about our patients.

Dinner tonight is once again from Rachael Ray but it is an old standby that I have served before. The original recipes come from Food Network but I have tweaked them abit. First up we have Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Gorgonzola. This is a quick and easy meal to put together and always pleases the guys. Thick tenderloin steaks finished off under the broiler with Gorgonzola cheese. Yum.

For the salad we had Bleu Cheese and Walnut Salad with Maple Dressing. With a combination of baby spinach, Bleu Cheese, and glazed walnuts...well, what's there not to like! This is one of my favorite salads from Rachael and I like to serve it with steak. Also on the side we had some corn in butter sauce.

Tomorrow morning I am off to a Muncie tradition. Saturday morning at White Feather Farms. This is a local distributor of all kinds of cheese, nuts, grains, coffee, and some unusual items. Only open to the public on Saturday morning, it is the place to go for fresh cheese at wholesale prices. I am planning to take my camera and see if they will let me take some photos for the blog. On the shopping list is some fresh feta for tomorrow nights dinner and whatever else that might interest me. I have been working so many extra Saturdays that this will be my first trip there in months. I can't wait!

Enjoy the recipes and check in tomorrow to see what's cooking. Until then.

Recipes

Bleu Cheese and Walnut Salad with Maple Dressing

adapted from 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Gorgonzola
adapted from 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray

Leftover Thursday

2006-01-12T18:54:00.000-05:00

Yep, been cooking all these meals from Rachael and we have some leftovers to devour tonight. And, I stayed up late (for me anyway) watching Lost last night. I am beat. So the family can fend for themselves and heat up their favorites from the last couple days.

Have a good night and go check out some of the other blogs I have listed here. Some really cool photos and recipes to be had, you just have to look. Until tomorrow.

Chicken and Horseradish?

2006-01-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

Tonight's meal choice from Rachael was Chicken in Horseradish Pan Sauce over Orange and Herb Couscous along with Baby Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Red Onions. I was a bit skeptical about this one, but once again we have a winner. The sauce was very tasty and not overly bitey from the horseradish. The couscous was lacking something however. The orange flavor was not real pronounced. Maybe adding some juice from the orange along with the zest would brighten it up more.

Spinach and mandarin oranges are always a winning combination in my book so I really loved the salad. I choose this salad to accompany the main dish because I thought the orange flavors of both would complement each other. They did so beautifully. The dressing was not overly sweet which was a plus. I used Smuckers Simply Fruit Orange Marmalade. The Simply Fruit line from Smuckers is my favorite choice for jams.

Now it is time to go settle in to watch Lost tonight. After a month-long hiatus I am anxious to find out what is up next for these castaways. Until tomorrow.

Recipes

Chicken in Horseradish Pan Sauce over Orange and Herb Couscous
adapted from 365: No Repeats by Rachael Ray

Baby Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Red Onions
adapted from 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray

ARF Tuesdays #2-Brussels Sprouts!

2006-01-10T19:57:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up, both my parents did the cooking until I was 13 and my Mom had a debilitating stroke, then my Dad took over. Now my Dad was a great cook. Grew up on a farm and actually did some farming before becoming a factory worker. I would have to say that I learned most about cooking from him. However, neither him or my mother were adventurous when it came to cooking. I never tasted many wonderful foods until I became an adult and began to develop my own interest in all things culinary. We never had cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, or brussels sprouts. Never any fresh spinach, only canned. No other salad green except iceberg lettuce. One year I begged my Dad to plant spinach in the garden. It was wonderful.

When DH and I first got together, he told me how much he liked brussels sprouts. So being the loving woman that I was, I became determined to make them for him. I did not have a clue how to cook them. I thought I would just boil the hell out of them. Well, needless to say they tasted like hell also. I never attempted to touch them again for 10 years. Yes, I was a bad wife, depriving my husband of brussels sprouts.

About two months ago I was watching Giada make sprouts...they looked sooo tasty. So I bought a pound and tried again. Heavenly. Tonight we had them with our entree and they were still tasty, it wasn't just a fluke last time! I have discovered another wonderful vegetable! If you think you don't like sprouts, try this dish, it will make a brussels sprouts lover out of ya!

As promised, another entree from RR. Rosemary Lemon-Peppered Pork Tenderloin with Lemon Parmigiano Dressed Greens (whew, that is a mouthful). This took me more than 30 minutes to prepare because I need to have everything cut up and in ready to go before I start cooking. I do not have a cutting board right next to a cooktop to make prep easier. Never the less, this was very good. The pork was cooked perfectly, tender and flavorful. The salad was DELICIOUS. Served with Giada's Brussels Sprouts, this was a very flavorful and satisfying meal.

I served an old vine Zin with this that was a perfect match. Not too dry with hints of blackberry. This is a perfect wine for bold meat dishes. 7 Deadly Zins sells for about $15.00 a bottle.

So for ARF Tuesdays my submission is Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta from Giada. Be sure to stop by Sweetnicks for the roundup. On tap for tomorrow is another new recipe from RR so stay tuned.

Recipes

Rosemary Lemon-Pepper Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Lemon-Parmigiano Dressed Greens and Garlic Croutons

From 365: No Repeats by Racheal Ray

Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta
from Giada

Dinner Tonight - Pasta Nests

2006-01-09T21:38:00.000-05:00

As promised I made an dish from Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats. Tomato-Basil Pasta Nests. It was a meatless dish which I am going to try to make a Monday habit. Very easy to put together and I actually had the entire meal done and on the table in under 30 minutes. It generally takes me longer than Rachael's 30 minutes to get one of her meals done (maybe it is because I am not as "perky" as she is). Also, Rachael says this serves 4. The hell you say Rachael. Who are these 4 people? Professional football players? This made more than enough for 6-8 people. How could she possibly eat servings as large as her typical servings are and remain so skinny? Again, it must be the perkiness.

I used a new to me pasta, Barilla Plus. It has more protein and fiber, made from whole grains, and less fat than regular pasta. It had a slightly nutty flavor which was not unpleasant at all. Zac never knew the difference. Anyway, the meal was well recieved by all and the "nests" were a novelty. Served with a simple tossed salad from a bag (they were buy one get one free, and I cannot pass up a bargain).

I made a dessert tonight which I don't often do. This came from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. Fudgy Chocolate Brownies. Very rich and ohhh so fudgy. Mine actually looked very similar to Martha's in the book which is a rare occurance for me. Zac is always wanting a dessert but none of us need sweets too often. Unfortunantly, he fell asleep before I cut them. His first day back at school after break must have wore him out.

On tap for tomorrow is another recipe from Racheal's book. Drop in to see what's cooking. Until then, enjoy the recipes.

Recipes

Tomato-Basil Pasta Nests
adapted from 365: No Repeats by Rachael Ray

Fudgy Chocolate Brownies
From Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

Jambalaya

2006-01-08T18:58:00.000-05:00

"Jambalaya, crawfish pie, fillet gumbo. For tonight I'm gonna see my..." you get the picture. That song has been playing through my head all day in anticipation of tonight's menu offering, Patti's Jambalaya. There are many incarnations of this famous Cajun dish, but we like my version the best.

This time I used a yellow bell pepper instead of a green one since that is what I had on hand (the recipe is very forgiving, make it your own by using what ever you wish), and I did not have any Emeril's Essence. Since I did not feel like making a new batch, I used Galena Street Rub from Penzey's. Not quite as spicy as the Essence but still quite flavorful. I also happened to find some chicken andouille sausage last week to use. It is really much better with andouille sausage. However, it is extremely hard to find in Muncie. The local grocer carried Aidell's brand for awhile then quit selling it. When I cannot find it, I use smoked sausage and extra seasoning. This recipe makes a lot which is fine for us because the leftovers make a great lunch the next day. DH's and my co-workers are always amazed with the leftovers we bring in our lunches.

I tried a new cornbread recipe to accompany this tonight Maple Cornbread from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. It was a very straight-forward recipe to follow and the results were excellent. Just a tad sweet with the maple syrup, but a nice accompaniment to the spicy Jambalaya.

I finished the menu planning for the next week and I will be using some of the bounty I have in my deep freeze. Aaaah, it really is a good feeling to know what is going to be for dinner the rest of the week and have a plan. I must NEVER get out of this habit again. Hopefully, having this blog will help me discipline myself.

Hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable weekend. Check in to see what's cookin' from Rachael Ray this next week. Until then...

Recipes

Jambalaya

Maple Cornbread

King Arthur Flour

WDB#16

2006-01-08T16:30:00.000-05:00

"I have to look for approaching danger while my Mommy is outside."

Be sure to see the other cute pups over at Sweetnicks!

I forgot the muffins!

2006-01-08T10:50:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot about the muffins I made for work Saturday! In my hast to get out the door, I failed to take a picture of them, so no pic. I modified a recipe from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion for Oatmeal Muffins. I subbed KA white whole wheat flour for the AP flour. They are not very sweet and with the oats, whole wheat flour, and raisins, a healthy alternative to traditional sugary muffins.

Oatmeal Muffins
adapted from King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion

Ingredients:
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoon melted butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups KA white whole wheat flour
1 cup golden raisins

Directions:
1. Combine the oats and buttermilk in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 425 F. Add the brown sugar, butter, egg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the buttermilk/oat mixture. Gently stir in the flour and raisins. Fill 12 greased muffins cups to the rim and bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the muffin pan for 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely.

I leave you with my WCB entry. A pic of Angus looking out at the world with anticipation. Check out the others at EatStuff.

Whole Wheat French Bread Pizza anyone?

2006-01-07T20:59:00.000-05:00

Tonight's dinner needed to be quick and easy since I had to work late. Pizza is always a hit with Zac and I saw this recipe from Rachael Ray and decided to give it a try. Now Rachael used a white bread but in the interest of health I subbed whole wheat. One of the interesting things about this dish is that it has no tomato product at all. And it contains healthy spinach. It is a way to hide the healthy greens in a food that kids will eat. Par for the course with RR's dishes are the portions sizes. HUGE. as written this serves 4, but 8 would be more reasonable. I served with a tossed salad and we called it a meal, with leftovers to spare.

The post is short tonight so I can veg out in front of the TV and finish the menu plan for the next week. On tap tomorrow is an original recipe of my own that the family requests on a frequent basis. Until then.

Whole Wheat Stuffed French Bread Pizza
adapted from Rachael Ray

Dinner Tonight

2006-01-06T20:10:00.000-05:00

So far I have managed to plan tonight's dinner and tomorrow's. Not too shabby! I have also chosen a cookbook to cook from next week...Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats. Stay tuned to see what I choose for the next week.

tonight's main dish was an old standby from Cooking Light, Pecan-Crusted Tilapia. I could eat fish and seafood almost every night so I really enjoyed tonight's entree. It is simple to make and the fish comes out crispy and flaky. I like to squeeze a little fresh lemon juice on my fish before eating. I served this with 2 new recipes for us: Wilted Spinach with Garlic from Rachael Ray and Polenta with Cheese from Good Food Fast on the Food Network. The spinach was very fast and quite flavorful with the garlic. The polenta made a lot so I have plenty leftover for fried polenta slices later this weekend. It was creamy, comforting and quite tasty. Zac however was not impressed although he did like the fish. For the wine I choose this.

I go back to work tomorrow after being ill and having a couple days off. Zac heads back to school on Monday FINALLY. Most of the other schools around here resumed sometime this week. He is getting bored and Mom needs a break!

If I can get up early enough (my goal is 4 am on work days, I don't always obtain it) I am taking some muffins in to work tomorrow. The batter has to rest overnight so if I don't make them in the morning I will have to make them tomorrow evening. Until then I hope you enjoy today's offerings.

Recipes

PECAN-CRUSTED TILAPIA
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, Jan/Feb 2003

Creamy Polenta with Cheese
adapted from Good Food Fast, Food Network

Wilted Spinach with Garlic
adapted from 30 Minute Meals, Food Network